Secret Life of a Juvenile Delinquent
by cookiecrumbs976
Summary: Lena Evans finds herself at Camp Half-Blood. So what if she pissed off quite a few important people up there? She'll fix it. Somehow... But then she stumbles upon the truth: Things in the demigod world aren't as calm as they seem. COMPLETE!
1. That Hellhound Across the Street

**Chapter 1: That Hellhound Across the Street**

I jammed my hands into my pocket, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible in the music store. If anyone looked at my face, they'd realize that I was way too young to be out during this time of the day when school was supposed to be in session.

All school did for me was provide a source of torture. So it wasn't exactly abnormal for me to skip school. In fact, it was abnormal for me to even be in school. Sometimes I'd show up in a half-hearted attempt to please my parents, but I would never last more than a period before ditching.

"Do you need something?" a woman asked me. Her tone was polite, but inside, she was probably suspicious on why I'd stayed in her store for over an hour without buying something.

"No," I said without turning my face. "I'm sorry, I'll get out now." Which was exactly what she wanted. I walked to the front door and searched for my next target. A giant dog barked, chasing after a squirrel. Actually, 'giant' was an understatement. The thing was _huge_. I stepped onto the sidewalk.

That was when I bumped into a guy as he was running. He was holding a giant sword in one hand and a broken leash in the other. His black hair looked like it had never seen a brush and his green eyes were panicked.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I didn't see you. By the way, did you see a dog around here anywhere?"

"Just now, before we collided," I said. "Across the street. Is that your dog?"

"Yeah. Can you point out where he went?"

I stuck my finger down the street towards the Central Park. "What's the sword for? Seriously, if police saw you with that, they'd arrest you on the spot. It looks too real to be a fake."

He paused. "It's an umbrella."

"No, it's a sword."

"Shouldn't you be at school, little girl?"

"I'm thirteen. Shouldn't you? You don't look much older than me."

We stared each other down. He broke the connection and muttered something about mist. "Anyway, I got to go before she goes berserk again."

"Already has, she was chasing after a squirrel." The guy jogged towards the park without bothering to say goodbye. I ran after him. "Hey! Not even a goodbye? Don't you owe me something? You would've lost your dog if it weren't for me."

"Go back to school," he said. "And forget you even saw me."

"Let me help. I'm not going to school, so you can forget about that. I'm dying for something to do, and it's not everyday I get to see a hellhound." The last word slipped out of my mouth without any thinking on my part. At first I thought, _Hellhound? Come on._ But then I realized it was a pretty good description of the dog.

"Did you just say _hellhound_?"

"Um, yeah, sorry about that." I blushed. My mother used to tell Greek myths to me as a bedtime stories when I was younger.

"No, no, you didn't do anything wrong. You know what? Come along." He waited until I caught up with him. "My name's Percy. Yours?"

"Elena. But you can call me Lena."

It wasn't hard to track down Percy's dog. You could hear her barks from a block away. We found her yapping up a tree and clawing the trunk.

"Mrs. O'Leary – no! Don't do that, that tree will fall down if you –" True to his prediction, the tree started swaying dangerously. I imagined the squirrel clutching on for its dear life and winced. Percy produced a giant chew toy and threw it as far as he could. "Fetch!"

Mrs. O'Leary ran eagerly towards it, but instead of bringing it back, she continued gnawing and slobbering on it.

"That'll keep her busy for a while," Percy said, satisfied. We sat down on the park bench.

"Mrs. O'Leary?"

"I wasn't the one who named her," he sighed. He took out a pen cap and pressed it to the sword tip. It transformed into a pen.

"Cool," I said. "You never told me why you have a sword. Where did you get it from?"

"My dad."

"Who is he, an archaeologist or a historian? And how did it turn into a pen?" My mind was full of questions.

"My dad works with the ocean," he answered. It made no sense whatsoever, and his voice was filled with hesitation as if he was reluctant to surrender even this vague piece of information. "The pen's magic."

"Sure seems like it," I said. Was he humouring me? Percy sure did hide a lot of secrets, though he was easygoing and friendly. There was an uneasy silence as I tried to figure out the truth.

"Want to get some ice cream? My treat."

Percy walked me back to my house. After a few hours of bonding, we'd gone from strangers to friends, despite our three year age difference. I learned that he lived with his mom and his stepfather here in New York and had a girlfriend he'd met in camp, which he still went to every year. As he was talking about some Annabeth Chase, he pulled her picture out and I got a glimpse of a blond girl with grey eyes. It was obvious that he was head over heels in love with her.

I told him about my life. How I lived with the picture perfect family. My parent loved each other. I had a little brother who was seven and a braniac, and a younger sister who was a music prodigy. We lived in a giant house. We were rich enough to be able to afford sending my brother and my sister to private school, but my parents didn't bother sending me because I was the black sheep in the family. And truth was, I didn't care. Because in my opinion, what you learn in school wasn't useful at all. It didn't teach you how to be resourceful, or how to be on your guard at all times as for me, there was always a possibility of being attacked by some strange animal. School didn't teach you how to survive. Period.

"And these… monsters attack you how often?" Percy asked. I wasn't sure he'd believe it when I told him that instead of humans, my attackers were monsters.

"It depends. Probably every once a week or so when things heat up. Sometimes once a month." At first, I had told my parents and my friends about these monsters. But they didn't believe me. Not surprising.

And how I dealt with monsters, I didn't. I just ran far enough and hid in a dumpster. They never found me in dumpsters.

"Do you mind if I talk with your mom?" Percy said as we were at the front door. I tried not to grimace as Mrs. O'Leary destroyed my mother's garden. She put hours of work into it. Now I was watching the roses being uprooted and the bushes being crushed under her giant paws.

"Why would you want to talk to my mom?" It was an extremely odd request. No one I ever hung out with wanted to talk with my mom.

"You know that camp I mentioned? Maybe you'd like to go there this summer."

"Camp sounds lame," I said truthfully. "What do you do there? If it's the classic camp experience – hike, swim, stinky cabins – I'm not interested."

"It's actually a pretty cool place, I bet you'll love it. But you see the thing is, I'm not sure if you can go, because it's for special people –"

"What? Is 'special' just a code word for 'stupid'? Goddamnit, that's all I hear everyday. _Elena, you are a special girl, please work with us_." I stopped and ran the words through my head again. "I'm sorry, I get defensive." Hopefully that sufficed as an apology. Percy did seem like a nice guy. "Maybe your camp is okay."

He laughed. "Camp's the best. But I can't tell you about it, sorry for that. I think I broke the rules by even telling of its existence."

"A super spy camp? Designed to train kids to become FBI agents?"

"Keep dreaming."

I invited him inside to our house and led him to the kitchen. "Sit down, I'm just going to bring my mom over." I pushed a bowl of jellybeans towards him. "Enjoy." Then I went to my mom's office where I knew she'd be typing on her computer. She worked from home. "Mom, I met someone at the park."

"A boy?" she looked sternly up at me.

"Relax, you know I know that you don't want me dating until I'm like thirty. Plus this guy's already got a girlfriend.'

My mother sighed and actually turned away from the computer screen, swivelling around on her office chair to face me. "Honey, you can't just bring _strangers_ into our house. Who knows who they really are –"

"Percy is a nice guy, and I'm not stupid. He wants to talk about some camp."

She got up. "Where is he?" I didn't move for a few seconds because I was quite surprised she gave in so easily. My mother was usually hard to persuade.

"In the kitchen." We walked down the long hallway and back to the kitchen. The first image that registered in my mind was that Percy had separated the blue jellybeans from the other ones. The second was that he was swinging his sword above his head, like a madman, swatting a fly away as he munched on a jellybean happily. It was overkill.

"Stop!" My mother yelled.

Percy looked up at her with his green eyes. She blinked. "Sorry, Mrs…"

"Evans."

"Yes, I'm just going to get to the point."

"You wanted to talk about some camp?" Mom asked. He nodded. They both looked at me.

"I get it," I mumbled and left the room, closing the door behind me. Then I leaned my ear against the door. One lesson I usually went by: When they tell you to leave the room, you eavesdrop.

"I am not sending her to that camp. Elena is doing fine on her own." I didn't have to strain much to hear those words, because she was practically spitting them out as loud as she could.

"So she is one. Mrs. Evans, just listen, please. If she doesn't go, then you're sentencing her to her death."

What?

"Now I can't escort her there myself, but I've got a friend. Grover." The rest was said very quietly. I could only hear a few mumbles.

Two minutes later, the door opened and I nearly tumbled onto the floor. I wiped my hands on my jeans as I got up. "Didn't hear anything, I swear."

I expected her to lecture me again, but instead, she helped me up and said with a bright false smile, "You're going to camp this summer!"

Percy waved behind her and popped another jellybean into his mouth.

"Great," I answered.


	2. Donkey Boy is Insulted

**Continuing on with my fanfic. Just started it today on a whim. ^^ Cause I've been suffering from writer's block later and hopefully this'll get me started again… So since I actually live in Canada (eh?) I don't know much about New York – in fact I'll be visit New York for the first time in a few days! If anyone can help me understand the area, it would be great. :D Criticism welcome and appreciated, so enjoy. :)**

**By the way, to those curious, this takes place about a year after The Lat Olympian.**

**PJ&O characters don't belong to me… all Rick Riordan's creations… But my plot and my characters belong to me.**

**Chapter Two: Donkey Boy is Insulted**

"Lena is sick, so she'll have to stay home from school today," I heard my mother say to my brother. "Your uniform's not straight."

"She's been sick for two weeks!" That was true. My mom put me on house arrest a week ago. I was longing for fresh air, and a chance to go outside. "And she never goes to school anyway," Justin said. "And she doesn't look sick. Look! She's faking, mom, she's only pretending to be asleep –"

"Eat your breakfast," she sighed. "You're going to be late for school."

"Not fair!" Justin shrieked. "Not fair! You never yell at her when does bad stuff! I want to stay home too!" My ears were bleeding. I tugged the pillow from under my head and clamped it on top of my ears. "_See? She just moved! She just moved!_" His voice's volume lowered as he raged his way down the stairs.

To sum it up, my brother was a spoiled bratty genius when he wanted to be.

I could hear my sister practicing her violin in her room. Turning eleven next week, she played so many different instruments, I won't bother listing them. Right now, she was playing some Vivaldi piece.

"Breakfast, Jordan!" Mom yelled up to her.

The notes broke off suddenly as Jordan obediently put down her violin in exchange for cereal.

Ten minutes later, I listened to the sound of the car engine started up and the tires rolling down the driveway. Birds chirps, traffic honks in the distance, someone's footsteps to my front door…

_Ding dong_. I peeked out the window to see who it was. Some man with a package and a UPS uniform. I saw him tapping his foot impatiently on the porch. _Okay, dude, you're in rush_. I reached for my long robe and slipped it on while stuffing my feet into some bunny slippers.

Running downstairs while yelling, "Coming!" I realized my hair was a mess and sighed. Whatever. His fault he interrupted my supposed slumber. I opened the door. "Who's the package for – whoa." I slammed the door in his face as my heart pounded in my chest. Oh. My. God. I took off my slippers and flung them behind me. _Running shoes… where are they? Aha. Right here._ My hands shook as I put them on.

I wasn't about to run out in broad daylight with only a bathrobe on, so I searched in the closet for something acceptable.

One earthquake-like tremble later, I decided I could do with my bathrobe. Glass littered the ground, and one piece stabbed itself into my arm. The monster was trying to knock down my front door, and I couldn't do anything about _that_. I tried to forget the image of the one-eyed creature – a _Cyclops_ – and flung open the kitchen window which led to the backyard. Then I could climb the fence and get the hell out of here.

I had one leg over and then other still on the kitchen counter when I heard Mrs. O'Leary's loud barks. _What are they doing here?_

"Lena!" Percy shouted at me. "Get out."

"I am, in case you haven't noticed," I cried. "Um, remember those monsters I told you about? _There's one at my front door!_ So if you could take out your sword and – oomph!" I landed on stomach after an awkward flop through the window.

"Already on it," Percy said and ran towards the front. "Get over the fence, there's a taxi waiting for you."

"Wait, I wasn't serious you know…" I looked back at the house and thought of all my possessions in there – things that actually meant something for me. Then the house jerked again and I decided hey, I wanted my life over anything else anytime.

I grabbed one of the lawn chairs and set it beside the fence. Using it as a foothold, I was over the fence with only a few bruises and a nasty cut from the glass shard.

I was across the backyard and onto the front within seconds. A car beeped and I saw the taxi to my left. I opened the back door and a boy was already sitting there, drinking from a coke can – no chewing on it – with a cap on his head.

"Percy told me to come here," I explained. "You know Percy right?"

He stared fearfully at me. My appearance wasn't exactly the best and right now it was likely he was staring at my crow's nest of black hair. "Y – Yeah, I know Percy, we're like best buds," he bleated. "You see, I don't escort demigods most of the time, but Percy wanted a favour, and well we're best buds – I just told you that. What happened back there? Percy's not telling me through our link…"

"A Cyclops is trying to rip down my front door," I summarized.

He laughed nervously. "Cyclops, huh? You know, Cyclopes are _bad_ monsters, but I know a friendly one…" We watched through the glass window as my house shook once more. Then the roaring stopped and it was calm. "Okay, I think Percy's done his job. Pick him up, Argus. My name's Grover."

"Lena." I saw through the mirror that Argus had more than two eyes on his face. Creepy much to have a monster driving your cab? But I guessed that if Grover trusted him, then I could too.

"Okay, Lena, listen. We're taking you to Camp Half-Blood, right now, because we can't have anymore monsters knocking on your door."

"Can I get my stuff?" I asked timidly.

"Sorry about that, but two demigods in this place, it's definitely risky," Grover said and finished his coke can.

I gaped. "Do you um, eat coke cans all the time?

"Anything goes," he explained and took off his cap. "Look at my horns! They're getting bigger, I'm telling you." Pride was in his voice. He stamped his feet several times, except the sound was more of a _clop clop_. I looked down. Hooves. And very hairy legs.

We pulled up to my house. Percy got into the cab. I moved to the middle to give him room. He closed the door and flipped the pen. "That was actually pretty fast," he mused.

"You believed me when I told you about the monsters… because you fight them everyday," I guessed.

"Not everyday." He paused. "Okay, probably everyday. We're taking you to Camp Half-Blood."

"The camp for _special_ people," I recalled. "As in people who can slay monsters and donkey boys."

"I'm not a donkey boy! That is just mean. I'm half _goat_." Grover protested. "Never _ever_ say that to a satyr unless you want to be trampled on. Or if you're best buds with the satyr you're talking to." He sniffed several times.

"Satyr." Cyclops. Satyr. Greek mythology.

"And Camp Half-Blood is for demigods," Grover said. "As in half-god, and half-human. Congratulations Lena, you're a demigod!"

I stared at the stretch of road in front of us. The air freshener swung back and forth. "So. You're saying that either Mom or Dad isn't my actual parent."

"You got your human half from your mom," Percy said. "She knows you're a demigod."

"Then why didn't she tell me?" The words were spoken with the softest tone. I felt betrayed. Lied to. For pretty much my entire life. "And who's my dad?"

"A god," Percy said. "We don't know who yet. It can be Apollo, Hermes, Hephaestus, Dionysus, or Ares – hopefully not – or one of the minor gods. Or maybe you're a child of the Big Three." Doubt. "But probably not because they only just lifted that vow they made after World War Two."

"Big Three? Vow? Um, please remember I only just found out that I'm half human."

"The Big Three – Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades – made a promise to each other that they wouldn't have children with mortals ever again, because their demigods are too powerful. But they only recently decided to forget about it, so it's unlikely you're a daughter of one of the Big Three."

I ran this through my head. "So you're saying that I'm a daughter of my mom and some Greek god – and Greek mythology is not mythology."

"Yeah. Monsters exist and so do the gods. And the Titans." Grover stopped here and exchanged a knowing glance with Percy. "In fact we were at war with them just a bit less than a year ago. But we won."

"Okay. But what about science?"

"Science is made of theories humans invent to explain things they don't understand," Percy said. "So forget about that."

"Sweet. And this camp we're going to? Camp Half-Blood. It's like a summer sanctuary for demigods?"

"You could say that," Percy said. "It's a place where monsters can't attack us, unless they've been put there for training. We have to train and learn how to defend ourselves, otherwise you'd die out here in the real world. In fact, there's still a chance you might die, so take this." He took out a dagger from a backpack by his feet and handed me a dagger. "It's not the best, but it's the only one small enough to fit in my bag. It's made of celestial bronze, which will kill just about every monster you encounter. But it won't hurt mortals."

I gripped the dagger by the hilt. "Anything else I should know?"

"Yeah, actually a whole bunch," Percy said. "But you usually learn along the way."

For the next hour, they gave me a rundown of the war and camp activities. I'd sunk down low in my seat in dread. What if my parent didn't ever claim me? What if I wasn't good enough to kill a monster or…

"You'll do fine," Percy said. "With your tough personality, there's no need to worry."

I sighed.

"We'll have to get off here, the camp's just over the hill." Percy got out. I followed him as he slung a backpack strap over his shoulder.

"Later Argus!" Grover yelled and slammed the door. "He doesn't talk much," he sighed. "Come on now, don't lag behind –"

"Empousai," Percy said suddenly. "Two of them."

"They have to show up _now_," Grover moaned. "Run, Lena, run to that big Christmas tree! You know, with the dragon curled around it. We'll be right behind you."

"Dragon –?"

"Run!"

I sprinted, which wasn't easy to do so in a bathrobe. At first I was sure I'd make it, the tree wasn't far away at all, but that was before an empousai jumped in front of me and knocked me down, just as I was below the tree. I got my first close-up of an empousai, and it wasn't pleasant.

All I could think of was a vampire satyr with a metal leg. She lunged at my neck, but I kicked her away, keeping her distracted with her pain loud enough to take out my dagger from the bathrobe pocket. She attacked again, but I sliced the dagger across her face and shut my eyes. I didn't want to see her face bleeding. But when I opened my eyes again, there was nothing left.

Applause and whistles filled the air. At first I thought the watching spectators were cheering for me, but all their attention was focused instead on Percy who'd just killed the empousai which a stab to her stomach. No one saw me. I was under the shadow of the tree.

On unstable legs, I gripped the dagger and crossed the border. Grover was the only one there, and he patted me on the back. "Nice job for your first monster."

Percy wiped the locks of hair from his forehead and joined the giant group of excited campers. From this angle, I saw him hug Annabeth, the girl from his picture.

"You all right?" Percy asked me as he walked over.

"Fine. I killed the other one."

Annabeth hugged me. "Hi Lena, Percy told me about you. You might want to get changed. Lunch is in twenty minutes. And welcome. You're going to love it here.

**I'm no good at describing fight scenes. D: and the ending's kind of rushed. Sorry about that.**

**until next time. ~^^~**


	3. A Campmate Nearly Chops Off My Head

**I'll probably be updating as much as I can… so stay tuned. Sorry if its been really crappy so far, but I usually need momentum to get me going. :D **

**Please review guys, even if its just a word, I just need to know what you think of my writing because I take writing pretty seriously.**

**Disclaimer: PJ&O belongs to Rick Riordan, not me. **

**Chapter Three: A Campmate Nearly Chops Off My Head**

Lunch sounded good, I was starving. I woke up planning on having breakfast this morning, but the appearance of a Cyclops changed my plans.

Unfortunately, some centaur named Chiron wanted to talk to me, so I went off to the Big House on an empty stomach. Which was probably the reason why I was so cranky.

Chiron assumed I knew everything there was to know about Camp Half-Blood, but he still gave me a rundown anyway. The cabins I'd seen as I was walking to the Big House were dedicated to the gods and goddesses somewhere up on Mount Olympus (by the way it was at the tip of the _Empire State Building_) and you slept in whichever cabin is dedicated to your godly parent. Because I was unclaimed – Chiron assured me it was natural to be when you're a newcomer – I was bunking with Hermes' children because Hermes was apparently hospitable to everybody. I'd do activities like archery and sword fighting with them too.

"Just hold on to your possessions, they like to steal," Chiron said although the only possessions I had were literally the clothes on my back. And a dagger.

Some man wearing a shirt with dolphins on it entered the room. He grunted. "Another one?" And then he sipped his drink and left.

"That's Dionysus, but we call him Mr. D."

"Dionysus as in the wine god? What's he doing here?" I said.

"He got grounded. Long story."

I squirmed in my bathrobe. "I kind of left my house in a hurry. Can I call my mom?"

Chiron swished his tail, which reminded me that I was talking to a half horse. "We'll call her for you, but it's likely she already guessed correctly on what happened. It won't be hard to find an excuse for you, school's almost over anyway in New York and already over for some of the Western states."

Cabin Eleven was your average cabin, which was disappointing because I'd hoped for one of the cool cabins, like Cabin Seven. The walls were literally shiny gold. Or Cabin Three; when I'd walked quickly to the Big House, I'd seen seashells embedded into the walls. The only thing out of the norm for Cabin Eleven was this giant stick painted on the wall, with two snakes wrapped around it.

"That's a caduceus," someone said behind me. "You're the girl who came with Percy today, right?" he asked. "I'm Nico Di Angelo." Nico had dark eyes and hair up to his shoulders, as well as dark olive skin. He looked Italian.

"Lena Evans," I said. "Do you live in this cabin?"

"No, I'm in Hades' cabin. You know, the obsidian one over there?" He pointed it out to me. I automatically stepped back from him. _So… I'm talking with the prince of Hell._ "I'm not going to throw you into Tartarus," Nico said crossly.

"It's just, um, I'm wearing a bathrobe, so this is kind of awkward for me." _So _awkward, even more than the fact that he'd caught me moving away from him. "See you around?"

He shrugged. "Whatever."

The cabin was empty, because everyone was eating lunch. Unfortunately I was only entitled to food once I moved in and made myself comfortable.

_Looks like I'll be starving_. The place was an absolute mess. Belongings and toilet paper littered the ground everywhere. Despite the few bunk beds, it looked as if twice as many people lived here. I found a spot on the floor, and balanced uncomfortably on my toes to avoid squishing someone's leftovers. Unlikely I'd ever feel comfortable here.

I looked around for something I could where, but the only place I could find clothes was in the dirty laundry basket, and that was filled to the brim with orange t-shirts. I dug around until I found a shirt that looked to be my size and held it up to my chest see.

"What are you doing with my shirt?" someone accused. I dropped the shirt from surprise and held my hands up.

"Nothing, I – I have nothing to wear," I stammered to the boy at the door. Twenty others stood behind him. "Just a bathrobe."

The boy grinned and punched another guy who looked just like him in the arm. "Hey Connor, ten minutes and she's already stealing. Must be a daughter of Hermes."

_Please don't let me be one_, I prayed to whoever god or goddess was listening. _I can't live in a pigsty_._ No offence to Hermes._ "Actually, I don't know yet," I declared loudly.

"Well, Lena, is it? Make yourself at home. And here's something to wear." Connor tossed a bundle at me.

I caught it. "Thanks. By the way, are there a lot of people who go unclaimed?"

"Not since the new rules have been made. It used to be a lot worse before, believe me." He tilted his head. "You look, what, thirteen? You'll be claimed in no time."

That was the umpteenth reassurance I've heard in the past few hours. It still did nothing to calm my nerves. Why? Because I just wanted to belong, and to know that Annabeth was right when she said I'd love this place.

Campers filled in the cabin. I was pushed to a small corner at the back of the room where I turned away from everyone and changed. I found a comb and brushed my hair, wincing as I pulled on knots until it was its straight black again.

"Aren't you the girl who was with Percy when he killed that empousai?" Connor asked me. "Did you see him?" Excited eyes landed on me.

"I was too busy trying to kill the other empousai," I admitted. "And I did."

This was news to them. "Oh. I didn't see you," Connor said. "But congrats." He climbed up the ladder while I had suspicious stares aimed at me. "Okay campers," Connor yelled from the above us from the bunk bed. "We're going sword fighting. But we'll have to share the arena with Cabin Five."

Everyone groaned but me. "Who's Cabin Five?" I asked the guy next to me.

"Children of Ares," he said. "They love violence. You won't last five seconds against one of them."

That was nice to hear.

"Wait, I haven't had lunch yet," I protested. "How am I going to sword fight on an empty stomach?" Someone tossed me a granola bar. I sighed and devoured it as we marched out of the place.

The sword fighting arena was already filled with violent teenagers destroying dummies, or their sparring partners. I crossed my fingers behind my back, hoping the Hermes cabin wasn't as violent.

Travis Stoll, Connor's brother, handed me a wooden practice sword. "Here, use this one for now. It might feel a bit awkward for you to use, but you gotta start with something."

I looked at it. "Okay… Now do I practice on a dummy or something?"

"You don't know any moves yet," Travis said patiently. "We'll pair you up with someone to teach you." I thought about the kids from Cabin Five and gulped. "Percy!" he called. "Can you teach her? I'll bring back some coke for you next time I raid the store."

Percy nodded. "Deal," he said. "Come on, let's practice in that corner. There's plenty of shade so it won't be as hot as practicing under the sun." Then the next hour was highlighted with painful blows and jabs. By the time I was knocked off my feet three times, a small crowd had gathered to watch me get pulverized and humiliated. I brushed the sweat off my face, wishing I at least had a satisfied appetite, or maybe a bottle of water. "You need to raise your sword higher," he'd say, or, "Don't swing so widely, they'll expect it and it'll be blocked." What was extremely embarrassing was that I had not been able to land _one_ blow on him.

Before this session, I'd expected sword fighting to be easy, you know, just keep waving your sword around and hope one of those swings will hit your opponent. But nope, it didn't just involve swaying your sword around. There was foot work to consider, blocking yourself from attacks, and there were actually different types of attack methods and disarming techniques. I tried to fit this all in my head, but the only time I really faced a monster and attacked it was on Half-Blood hill.

"Break time," Percy said after failing to teach me how to disarm for the fourth time. "I'll get some water for us." The crowd obediently made a pathway for him to walk through. I looked at the unfriendly faces and suddenly wished that Percy hadn't gone away.

"You killed an empousai?" someone from Cabin Five asked me. His piggish eyes were squinting at me as if he couldn't believe it. When I nodded, he sneered. "I don't believe that. You suck."

I crossed my arms. "I only just started," I said angrily. "You have no right to judge me. In fact, I bet you were just as bad when you started. Percy said he was, it must be that way for everyone."

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say. Pig-eyes boy scowled. "_Prissy_ only got so far because he's the son of Poseidon." Wait, what? Apparently Poseidon had broken the oath. "And I challenge you right now to duel." He brought his sword.

"Why not?" I asked aand gripped mine tightly. The boy took Percy's spot and everyone in the crowd cheered. It was obvious whose side they were on. It was only after they started chanting _Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!_ when I realized that I was rash to take up on his suggestion. He was bulky and big. And I had no chance in defeating him. What was I thinking? To prove myself? Well it seemed like this attempt would end up in getting me knocked out for at least two days. I cursed. _You let your heart decide for you again…_

I had no idea how to start a proper sword fight, so I waited for him to make the first move. He whipped his sword at me so fast I blocked it just in time and stumbled back, realizing that if I hadn't done so, his sword would've cut open my stomach because he wasn't using one of those practice wooden swords, but his own, one made of metal. _Are you kidding me_. I decided to block his attacks until someone came to my rescue. The boy managed a shallow cut to my right cheek and I blocked a blow aimed from my shoulder. He swung his sword in an arc. I ducked and felt air pass over my head. Then he stepped back for a moment and sprang for my neck. I raised my unarmed hand and felt the sword cut into the flesh deeply.

_That could've been my neck_, I thought dazedly and ignored the pain as I wiped the blood onto my shorts.

"What in Hades was that?" Percy demanded. "What did you want to do, kill her?"

"She accepted the challenge," the boy said smugly. "She brought this on herself."

"Last time I checked, you don't duel with beginners with a metal sword. Now go and pick on someone your own size." He turned his attention on me as the boy sulked away with his group of friends, "Any injuries?"

I pointed to the cut on my cheek. "It's not very deep," I said. "The one on my hand is though."

Percy sighed. "Let's take you to the Apollo cabin. They'll fix you up."

**third chapter done. :D please review. until next time. ~^^~**


	4. I Rob a Store and Give Edible Makeovers

**Expect some longer chapters. I'm trying to include more description in my stories – its always been a weak spot of mine. Thank you . for your tips. :D constructive criticism is more useful to me than praise.**

**My thoughts are a little scattered at the moment so if something makes no sense, sorry.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJ&O and probably won't ever own it… D: unless rick riordan feels generous someday and sells it to me.**

**And I don't own rice krispies… just in case.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**I Rob a Store and Give Edible Makeovers**

A girl bandaged my hand as I accepted water from Percy. I watched her wrap the cloth around my hand slowly to cover up the bleeding line that ran from between my index and middle finger to the right lower corner of my palm. "Any food?" I asked him hopefully as my stomach grumbled uneasily. "I haven't had breakfast or lunch." Because I burned energy really quickly, it was essential for me not to miss a meal otherwise my stomach would start complaining and give up on me.

"Nothing," he shook his head. "But if I head back to my cabin, I might find some leftovers there. I can't promise you anything though. Tyson might've cleaned the cabin since my last visit."

I'd already heard about Percy's half brother, the newly appointed general who used an unusual battle cry – 'Peanut butter!' if I remembered correctly. Tyson had bravely led Poseidon's army of Cyclopes during the war a year ago to take down the Typhon. I tried to remember what I'd been doing last year mid-August and recalled that I had been on vacation with my family in Mexico. When I came back, our neighbours mentioned something about a tornado downtown. But because she was always yakking about one thing or another, we didn't believe her.

"No, it's okay," I said. "Sorry for being a burden to you. Since that day at Central Park, it's like I've been causing you nothing but trouble."

"Hey, don't apologize." Percy shook his head. "Glad to help. Anyway, I can't stick around. Annabeth and I are meeting in –" He looked at his watch. "Five minutes. See you around."

I waved goodbye to him with my uninjured hand and winced as the girl pulled a bit too hard on the bandage. "Sorry!" she cried. "I'm really not cut out for all this healing. I'm more of a musician."

"It didn't hurt that much," I offered.

"I'll just give you some ambrosia and nectar for your cheek," she said and presented me a glass of chilled apple juice and a plate of Rice Krispies. Or at least they looked like Rice Krispies. I took a bite out of one of them first because of my hunger and discovered they were nothing like Rice Krispies, except for the sweet part. It was impossible not to consume the whole thing in two bites. Tentatively, I drank out of the small cup of – nope not apple juice, but sweet and strong nectar. The wound on my face slowly closed.

I looked sadly down onto the empty cup. "I don't suppose you have any more."

The girl laughed. "Nope, if you eat or drink too much, you'll burn up. You see, it's more like god food than demigod food."

"Thanks for everything," I said and hoped down from the stool. "Next time we meet, it would suck if it were in here."

She laughed again. "Definitely. My name's Cailey. I'll be leading the campfire tonight. The Apollo cabin always leads it, and well it's my turn. I've only come to Camp Half-Blood a few weeks ago, so it's my first chance."

"Well, I'll see you there." I walked back to the sword fighting arena to see if the Hermes cabin was still there and took a swig from my waterbottle. Cabin Five had left, leaving my temporary cabin free to make use of the dummies, but they weren't really training, more like fooling around. I saw a guy tie a rope around the neck of one dummy's neck and pretend to hang him. Another guy was giving a girl a piggyback and carrying her all around the arena as she batted at as many heads as she could, dummy or camper. Travis and Connor, the cabin counsellors, weren't doing much. They were yelling at everyone to practice alright, but their expressions said that they were interested in watching whatever trouble the next camper would cause.

"Back from the infirmary?" Connor greeted me.

"Yeah. All better." I showed him my left hand. "Should I start training again? Or are we going back soon?"

He shrugged. "I don't know how much practicing you can do in ten minutes, it's your choice. After this, we're going swimming. Then we'll hit the showers."

"Dinner?" I asked.

"After the showers. At seven thirty."

I looked glumly at my watch. It was only three. I chose to wander around and watch the people who were really practicing. Maybe I'd learn something by analyzing their tactics.

The first guy I watched was really good. He battered the dummy back and forth until the head fell, and the straw was poking out of its stomach. The boy moved on to the next dummy when he saw me and glowered. "Don't distract me." In other words, _Get lost_.

I ducked to avoid a blow from the girl on the piggyback and directed my eyes to someone else as my cheeks flamed. But Travis and Connor were already calling for people to get their swimming suits. Everyone cheered and dropped their swords, leaving nobody to pick them up.

I practically fell over my feet when I heard the cabin counsellors call for us to line up for dinner. Swimming wasn't so bad, because I was always awesome at it, since I was a little kid. My dad wanted to enter me into competitions, but my mom thought it wasn't such a good idea as she didn't want me getting a big ego. I won several races today. Maybe the ambrosia and nectar helped too. However, after we got out of the river water and wiped ourselves dry, my legs were shaking.

We entered the mess hall and all twenty-seven Hermes kids squished themselves on one normal sized picnic table with a white cloth draped over it. I didn't have to sit at on the side, thank god (or was it 'thank gods'?); however I was squished between two boys, and they were squished by another guy or girl… and so on. I looked around at the grand scenery – marble floors and columns – and wondered why they didn't bother giving Cabin Eleven a bigger table.

After wood nymphs had set down plates and everything, I helped myself to some bread and salad as someone explained to me how whatever you asked for would be given to you – like magic. Because I had an appetite for something Japanese, I talked to the plate (feeling slightly stupid) and asked for sushi, which was one of my favourite dishes.

I saw Nico from the Hades Cabin and waved. He was staring at the giant crack that split the pavilion in half. Then he got up and carried his dish to the fire that blazed in the middle of the mess hall and scooped half his food into the fire.

"Why's he burning his food?" I was thinking of what a waste that was. Nico sat down and as he did, it started off a chain reaction until almost everyone was at the fireplace, tossing bits of their food in.

"For the gods," Connor said.

"You better give your best pieces of sushi, cause they only live on the best," Travis added.

"Might as well send a prayer up to your dad and tell him to hurry up and claim you," Connor suggested. "They listen half the time."

Feeling generous, I dropped three California rolls into the flames though my stomach was screaming not to. _Whoever's out there listening, please tell my dad to claim me… whether it be Hermes or Apollo or Ares or Hephaestus or one of the minor gods… um Dionysus is grounded so I don't know if you can_. The flames flared and some nice scent floated up to me, some scent hard to describe as anything but fresh.

I walked back to my table quickly and eagerly to dig in. Someone from a nearby table stuck out their foot and tripped me. The glass plate shattered and the cut on my cheek reopened.

I knew who had tripped me. It was obvious. Cabin Five was laughing and jeering at me, but their camp counsellor didn't look so amused. I got up and punched the guy in the face, straight between those piggish eyes, hoping to at least break his nose, or give him a bad bruise. I hadn't punched many people before, but the sickening crack was all it took to inform me that I'd hit the mark.

The angry teenager stood up. His pride was damaged and he wanted revenge. I stepped backed as he wound his wrist through my long hair and pulled it towards him. I kicked and screamed until my foot hit his stomach.

"Break it up, both of you," the stern figure said from above us. The centaur looked _very_ unhappy and mad. "After your wounds are healed, it's dishwashing duty for you two."

All through dishwashing duty, I tried not to flick lava at the boy, whose name I learned to be Mark. I kept my mind on the dishes and on keeping my arms from being scorched. But it wasn't long until my mind began to wander. The comment Cailey had said kept bothering me. _And I thought you'd make it until the campfire_, she'd joked as she treated my cheek, and it was funny at the time, but as I thought about it, I'd been hurt twice today. Would I always be getting into trouble?

I stumbled through the door of Cabin Eleven and blinked as Travis tossed me a plastic wrapped sandwich. "It was easy to steal from the kitchen, and congrats for going over twenty four hours without a proper meal."

"Thank you _so_ much!" I hoped he didn't expect a hug or anything because I'd already unwrapped the sandwich and was tearing into it as Connor solemnly presented to me a toiletries bag.

"It's been our custom for a long time now," he said. I took the bag with less eagerness than the sandwich, but thanked him anyway.

Ten minutes later, everyone was dead asleep.

I turned around onto my side, wiggling awkwardly in my sleeping bag. My hand curled around the dagger, the only belonging I had left besides my shoes and clothes. Some other cabin mate must've stolen my bathrobe, because when I got back, it had disappeared. Probably liked the softness of the fabric, I didn't know and I didn't care. They left the dagger alone though.

It was only at Camp Half-Blood where weapons were in more abundance than bathrobes.

A wind blew through from outside. I shivered and pulled the sleeping bag to my chin. It turned out that as a newcomer, I was also to sleep at the doorway of the cabin. But it was a warm night, save that cold wind, and I wasn't complaining.

_Fall asleep, fall asleep, fall asleep_ I chanted to myself. How could I possibly do so after such an exciting day? So I gave in to just staring at the ceiling. If I tilted my head a bit, I could see some of the stars too…

"Let's go."

"It's only been half an hour."

"Come on, you think anyone's going to be awake? It's like midnight." The whispers were coming from above me, on the two upper bunk beds closest to the door – where the counsellors slept.

Travis and Connor?

"Get the bag."

"Already have."

I shut my eyes as I heard them climb slowly down their ladders. Then through the corner of my eye, I watched them jump over a few sleeping campers and head their way out of the cabin. Once the footsteps faded away, I got out of my sleeping bag and tiptoed carefully to avoid stepping on any creaky wooden floorboards.

I was concerned about whether or not I had lost the two brothers, but they were arguing loud enough that I didn't have to search long to find them at the back of the cabin.

"I thought you said you didn't touch the cans!"

"I wasn't the one who was keeping it under my mattress!"

"Then why is the whipped cream gone?"

"Why are you looking at me?"

"Why are you looking at me?"

They glared at each other, their flashlights directed to each other's eyes. Travis looked at his watch. "You know we're going to be late. If we miss our chance, Nico's going to raise a big stink. He's been planning revenges ever since those Ares kids tripped him in Capture the Flag."

"Okay then, we'll just break into the store and nab a few cans like last time. I have my lock picks right here." They high-fived.

"Are you pranking Cabin Five?" I asked curiously as I stepped out of the shadows.

Connor bumped his head on the tree behind him. He rubbed his head. "Smooth," Travis commented. "Real smooth."

"Shut up, and you," he said, pointing at me. "You could be a classic prankster." I fidgeted uneasily at this. "Yeah, we are pranking Cabin Five. Want to come? It's your chance to get back at Mark." He held up an empty can with the label _Whipped Cream_ on it.

"Would I love to," I answered. "But I didn't expect it to be you guys."

They looked blankly at me. "What, you think that because we're counsellors, we'd actually be _responsible_?" They snickered at the thought. "We're not boring," Travis smirked.

We snuck across the silent area, and luckily, we didn't have a long way to go. Cabin Thirteen wasn't far off from Cabin Eleven. Nico was waiting at the back of his cabin, scowling at his watch. "I thought it'd just be the three of us," he commented when he saw our group.

"Change of plans. She holds grudges too," Travis said.

"Maybe she's a daughter of Hades then," he said dryly. "Let's get moving. Do you have the whipped cream?"

The two brothers looked at each other. They were like a few years older, but they were seriously freaked out about pissing Nico off. Who wouldn't be? No one wanted to see him summon up a ghost army to beat up kids who ticked him off. "We have the cans, but Connor ate all the whipped cream," Travis confessed.

"Did not!"

"Oh shut it, we all see through your lies."

"Please don't kill us," they chorused together.

Nico frowned. "I wish you guys would stop doing that. Whatever, just break into the camp store or something. I'll give you fifteen minutes."

"Yes, my lord Hades – er Nico." They laughed as Nico frowned. "Come on Lena, we've got a store to break into."

The store took a lot more sneaking to than to Cabin Thirteen. We kept to the shadows and behind the cabins. Even though no one would see us unless they were insomniatic or also breaking the rules, I was still wary and cautious. Dishwashing duty was torture, and it would suck if they had a much more serious punishment for second time offenders.

Since the entrance to the camp store was facing the cabins, it was much more riskier to break into the store than to sneak to the store. Connor took out his lock picks from his pocket and I raised my eyebrows from the number of them. Within seconds, the lock was taken care of and the door was open.

Connor looked around at the cabins. "No one saw us, right? We should've worn something other than these bright orange shirts."

"Are you thinking of the classic black mask, black catsuit thing? Remember last time we tried it? Uh uh, not pretty," Travis warned. We closed the door behind us and the Stoll brothers led me to a section where whipped cream stood on the shelves that piled up the ceiling. "Take ones from the back, they won't notice for several days." He demonstrated.

We filled the bag and our pockets with whipped cream cans. "Is this enough?" I whispered to him.

"If you want to prank them good, we'll take some bags from behind the counter. "Four bags will be enough." When we were done, I doubted that we would be able to conceal the missing number of cans for long. Someone was bound to discover it sooner or later.

Once all for bags were filled to the brim with whipped cream cans, we exited the store quietly and Connor relocked the lock. The cans made clicking noises as we made our way back to Nico, who was once again staring at his watch.

"We got them," Travis said. "Take a bag." Our group headed towards Cabin Five, which from we could hear loud snores from the red painted cabin.

"They could've done way better on the paint job," I said. "And the barbed wire and pig head isn't very comforting."

"It's a boar," Nico said. "Anyway, here's the plan –"

"It's basically the classic prank," Travis interrupted. "Whip cream their faces, their belongings, everything."

"What happened to the feather?"

"Do you really want to be around when a dozen of violent kids wake up with their faces creamed?" Nico asked.

"It's not exactly called creamed," Connor put in thoughtfully. "We're giving them a makeover… an edible makeover."

"Ew," Nico and I said. Then the brothers shushed us and we held down our laughs as we crept into the cabin of our enemies.

"This is where the real fun begins," Travis whispered and shook a can of whipped cream. He pressed the nozzle and gave the guy he was leaning over a moustache.

I searched for Mark and found him at the back of the cabin, making the loudest snoring noises and had one foot dangling from underneath the covers. After furiously shaking the can several times, I aimed it at his face and made a straight line from his left eyebrow to his right. _Give him clown lips… and a nose too. Oh hell with it, I'll just cream his entire face._ I had sure to leave holes for him to breath through. Then aiming at the ceiling, I wrote the message _Have a nice day!_ That never got old.

Although Mark's friends laughed as I tripped, I decided to leave them in the hands of Travis, Connor and Nico. I was happy with my revenge and watched as Nico furiously redecorated one teenager, and then moved on to the next. Travis was writing a message on the wall and Connor was just waving his can everywhere he could.

"You missed a corner," Nico said sarcastically.

"Oh no, I'm not spraying in that direction, Clarisse will be after my head if I personally mess with her," Connor said. "You should've seen how red she was last time."

"Everyone done?" Travis asked. We nodded. "This'll get us in trouble for sure, but it's definitely worth it."

At that moment, an alarm blared from the camp store.

"Tartarus!" Nico swore. "You forgot about the alarm!"

"We screwed it up last time," Travis said confused.

"Enough to work last time. They must have tried to repair it. Well it's not working anyway, that thing went off ages after we left."

"I don't know if you've thought of this," I interjected. "But that alarm's really loud and the snores are quietening down."

We looked at each other and ran.

**Wow this chapter turned out to be longer than I expected… :P anyway, as always, please review! It won't take you long and I'll definitely benefit from it.**

**Until next time. ~^^~**


	5. Bathroom Duty and Hydra Heads

**thank you to bookluva98 for reviewing the chapters. :D keep those reviews coming!**

**I'm still getting the hang of posting new chapters on fanfiction, so I apologize to anyone who's receiving several emails in their inbox… I may also start editing some chapters in the near future. I don't know if you'll get notifs for those but just thought you should know.**

**Rating upped to T for language and some violence… like we haven't seen some already. :P**

**DISCLAIMER: PJ&O characters don't belong to me, but to rick riordan. My characters DO belong to me, though.**

**Enjoy and please read to the end.**

**Bathroom Duty and Hydra Heads**

We sprinted around the U of cabins, hidden by the forest. The cans of whipped cream had been left abandoned on the floor of Cabin Five, no doubt to be used as later evidence, though I had a feeling they would figure out who'd played the prank without much effort. By the time we got to Cabin Seven, campers were already exiting their cabins, rubbing their eyes and wondering what was going on.

"Why couldn't you shadow travel?" Connor asked. "It's fast and –"

"It requires lots of energy," Nico said crossly.

"How about a hellhound?"

Nico didn't answer this time. I got the feeling he was thinking _yeah, why didn't I summon one_? At last, he said, "You know your first instinct is usually to run, not to call a monster to the campgrounds."

"But you could've," Travis muttered.

Nico was about to retort back when we reached Cabin Eleven and separated away from him as he ran on to his own cabin. The lights were on inside, but no one was out of their beds or of their sleeping bags.

"What's going on?" some girl at the back asked and yawned. "Another prank? Which cabin?"

"Ares!" Travis shouted and pumped his fist in the air. Everyone cheered loudly. There was no way Cabin Eleven was going to rat on us. "They defeated us by cheating last time in Capture the Flag, so I thought we should get some revenge."

"Not like we don't cheat," some other guy said. He wasn't joking, but the statement was meant a good-humoured way. "It's the only way to win."

Connor was just beginning to describe the way they trashed the cabin when a little boy, not even ten yet, squealed and ran into the cabin screaming, "Cabin Five's coming! And they're really mad!"

The lights went out and the entire cabin was in their sleeping bag, pretending to be fast asleep, which wasn't the brightest tactic as the rest of the cabins were wide awake and the alarm was still blaring.

A girl I could only assume to be the infamous Clarisse La Rue stormed into the cabin and nearly tripped over me. I winced as her steel toed boot hit my side. "I know you aren't sleeping!" she screeched and the lights came on again. "Travis, Connor, get your asses over here!"

Travis yawned and supported himself on one elbow to face to the girl below him. "Sleeping. You mind?"

"Clarisse, knocking would've been polite," Connor said. "Now please let us rest in peace."

She glared at the both of them and then yelled even louder into the cabin, making us all cover our ears. "Chris! Tell me everything you know otherwise I'll break up with you."

There were some dramatic gasps and giggles. On the other hand, some people were exchanging nervous looks. Chris sat up on his sleeping bag. "You're not serious," he smiled. "Cause I know you _love_ me."

Clarisse threw her hands up in the air and left the cabin. Chris shook his head. "She'll never break up with me, but she'll kill me in the morning."

A guy thumped his back. "You did a good thing, Chris, forget about her – hi Chiron."

All the campers turned their heads to the centaur to hear what he had to say. Clarisse was smirking behind him. "Tattletale," Travis accused softly, but it was still loud enough for Clarisse to hear.

"Watch it!" she shouted as her temper flared again. Chiron frowned down at Clarisse and she snapped her mouth shut to prevent any of those swear words she was ready to say from getting out.

"Travis, Connor, you're suspended from your counsellor duties – _again_," he sighed. The brothers shrugged simultaneously. "I see this punishment is having no effect on you, so your cabin will take on half of Cabin Five's chores for a week. It will be manual work, no magic."

"Hey, that's just unreasonable," Connor said. "Don't blame the innocent." He gestured to the rest of the cabin, including me. "They had nothing to do with it." His mischievous smile had slipped and he did look quite concerned.

"There's no discussion on this topic. I hope this punishment satisfies Clarisse," Chiron said. We could all see quite clearly that no, this punishment did not satisfy Clarisse at all, but she smiled sweetly at Chiron when he turned to look at her and left for her wrecked cabin. "Lights off," Chiron called as he trotted away. "And please do get some sleep."

The atmosphere at Cabin Eleven was morose and filled with dread.

"Just as I was getting comfy in this bed," Travis said. "Okay guys, you heard it. Chore duty starts tomorrow. Sorry about that, everyone. But it was an awesome prank right?" he asked hopefully.

'Yeah', 'sure', 'whatever', were the grumblings of the campers. I made a note to myself out of guilt to work as hard as I could tomorrow. And to drag Nico into helping us.

The next morning, the Ares cabin made their way to the mess hall and sat down on their table. I saw Annabeth walk past their table and pause. "Why does your table smell like vanilla?"

"Yeah, did you actually shower today?" an Aphrodite girl asked.

Cabin Eleven choked with laughter. Our mood was lifted into higher spirits after that. But it disappeared quickly again when Clarisse dropped a sheet of paper on top of the bowl of crackers, smiling sadistically. Connor snatched it and read the sheet of paper. "Are you kidding me?" he shouted to Clarisse. "Washroom duties? Stable cleaning? You gave us the worse ones on your list!"

She turned with a sneer on her face. "Mess with my cabin and that's what you get."

"This sucks," Connor moaned. I grabbed the list. "Hey!"

"Be right back." I got out of my seat and walked over to Nico who looked a lonely at his table. He was grimacing at his cereal like it reminded him of something – or someone unpleasant. Then I sat next down to him. "What are you thinking of?"

"Demeter," Nico said. "She's nutty about cereal." He ignored the frowns from Demeter's cabin. "Why are you here? You aren't supposed to sit with another cabin."

"It's really quick," I said. "You're helping with our chores." I showed him the list. "We deserve the help, we took all the blame."

Nico shook his head. "No way, I had stable cleaning last week, and let me tell you, it's not fun doing it by yourself."

"But you've got like thirty other people helping you," I pleaded. "Please?"

"You're better off asking Percy. At least he can summon enough water to scrub the horses clean," Nico said. "I'm just the son of Hades, what's summoning the dead going to do?"

"I'm not asking for your powers," I said. "I just want you to help. The entire table's miserable because you asked Travis and Connor to pull this prank." Mr. D glared at me from Cabin Twelve's table. I'd pushed my time. "Think about it, okay?"

I was glad to see Nico show up after breakfast in front of the washrooms. Other campers didn't feel the same way and wrinkled their noses, complaining about some 'stench of death'. "Shut up," I snapped. "I asked him to help."

Travis and Connor tossed two pairs of gloves our way. "Take the stall at the back," Travis said to us. We obediently accepted the mop and the bucket as well as some other cleaning tools and slipped into rubber boots.

"It can't be that bad," Nico said. "The washroom was just cleaned yesterday." But he was wrong. I pushed on the bathroom door and saw that it couldn't have possibly been cleaned yesterday.

"Cabin Five didn't even bother," I groaned and plugged my nose. "It's disgusting." I started wiping the walls as Nico worked on the floor.

"I shouldn't have come," he said to himself. "You know if you hadn't asked, I would be in the Archery range by now." He scrubbed hard at a place where a stain wouldn't come off.

"But you came," I reminded him. "And I'm grateful for it." Someone had drawn a dragon on the door in permanent marker. I sprayed a few bursts from a bottle and wiped it again, but it didn't work.

"This would be a lot faster if they would just let us use our magic," Nico said. He threw a sponge at Mark's face as it appeared over the stall door.

"Just checking on your work. You missed a spot. Right… there." Mark flicked his hand and a glob of mud landed on the only clean spot on the washroom. I kicked the door open.

"Go away!" Luckily the mop wasn't in my hand otherwise I would've clocked him with it. Mark whistled a bright tune as he exited the bathroom. "That's it," I said and threw down my gloves. Clomping out of the bathroom in my rubber boots, I was determined to set Mark into his right place. Nico grabbed my wrist.

"No way, you've already gotten hurt twice, and by the way, this is your _second_ day here," he said and hauled me back to the stall. "You always act so impulsively. Can you please clear your head for once and know that sometimes things can end badly?"

I took my gloves and put them on, staying silent. I focused on getting rid of the doodles but the day was so bright and nice.

"If you really want revenge, wait until tomorrow night. We're playing Capture the Flag," Nico advised.

"But I suck at sword fighting," I said. "There's no way I can beat them."

"You didn't have anything to eat yesterday, and who knows? Maybe you're better with something else. You haven't tried fighting with a spear, or a dagger, or a bow."

"All the Ares kids are like experts with weapons," I said glumly.

He shook his head. "Actually, they're just feared because of their recklessness. If you placed them in an arena with an equal opponent, they'd have no strategy at all. That's where Cabin Six is best at."

"Cabin Six?"

"Athena."

"Oh, her." Goddess of wisdom and battle. I exhaled noisily. "Who knows? I'm probably not a fighter at all." One doodle was removed. I stared at the now clean patch. It had taken me ten minutes just to free one small corner. "So." I tried to make some conversation. "Are you alone in your cabin?"

"I had a sister."

"Is she on a quest?" Because I was looking at the door, I didn't see his expression.

"No, she's dead."

The _had_ should've warned me, but when I got angry at someone, things tended to slip my mind. "Forget that I asked. I'm sorry."

At that moment, Connor and Travis whooped loudly. "Bathroom duty over!" they declared. We looked confusedly at each other. "We made an alliance with Athena for Capture the Flag, and they agreed to take over our extra chores." Hauling the equipment back, we saw the Hermes campers running down the hill towards the archery range.

Annabeth and Percy was standing outside, reading over a list. Annabeth looked pissed. "Hey!" she shouted to Travis and Connor. "You gave us all the hard ones!"

"That's what you get when you make an alliance with us," Travis said. "Good luck." He handed her his mop. She looked at it with disgust.

"I'll see you around," Percy said hastily and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. She didn't seem too happy about that.

We got to have free time, and I decided to check out the rock climbing wall, which looked pretty interesting with all the lava pouring down it. I almost didn't try it because of my lava experience yesterday when it occurred to me that by trying out different activities, I could determine for myself who my father was.

Though I wasn't too sure there was a god of rock climbing walls.

The first time I put my hand to the rock, it was so hot I was sure my hand was burned. But it looked fine so I continued on and threw myself to the side as a molten rock skipped down happily below. After ducking about five times, I scrambled to the top and breathed a sigh of relief.

The view up here was amazing. I could see the tops of the cabins and the Big House a bit far away. Smoke still fluttered up in tiny swirls from the dead campfire until a little girl skipped over to the log bench and started it again to roast her marshmallows. Over to my right, the forest hugged the cabins, separated by the strip of a river that led to a lake. I could see the top of a rock pile next to it.

"Lena!" Chris hollered. His figure was tiny. "It's time for training."

I scampered down the rock to join Cabin Eleven at the arena. Once again, I was sent to Percy who would once again help me with my 'extremely horrible skills'. It was a joke, yet it was the truth. I dragged the sword behind me to join him at our corner. At least none of the Ares kids were watching.

"Ready? Let's start with the disarming move I showed you." I sighed because it was the one I had the most trouble with. We did it in slow motion several times where Percy purposely dropped the sword. Then he gave me some water and told me to pour it over my head because it helped. I did what he told me to do and drank a large gulp.

"Again, but faster," he said. I put as much force as I could and he dropped it. "Nice. This time I won't try." I repeated the move and he gasped as he was forced to drop it earlier than he expected. "Not bad, you just hurt my wrist a bit." Percy shook his wrist out a few times and we repeated it several more times before he told me to apply it in the practice duel that would happen next.

We connected blades several times before my sword was lying on the rocks and Percy's was aimed at my chest. "You're acting too much on instinct. You block when I attack but that's about it," he said. "If you're always on defence, the only strategy that'll work is if you tire your opponent out, but you'll also be tiring yourself out."

I stared at him blankly and shrugged as I picked up my sword. _Okay, act more violent._ This time, after defending myself once, I jabbed the sword toward him. I didn't expect it to hit its target, and it didn't after the attack was knocked away by his sword. I steadied myself and tried again. He knocked it away the second time with more force and pointed the sword tip at me again.

"Too repetitive," he said. "They'll guess your pattern."

Frustrated, I took a sip of my water and began the duel with an attack. He knocked it aside and I defended myself against his blow. At the last second, I changed my grip on the sword and used the disarming tactic against him. Percy dropped his sword. "You win," he grinned. "Who knows, maybe you'll be as good as me one day."

I wiped the sweat from my forehead. All it took for me to improve was a full stomach and some water, I realized.

"Percy!" Annabeth and a giant man ran to the sword fighting arena – no, not man. A Cyclops. I tried not to shiver as I remembered my last encounter with one. This was Tyson, Percy's half-brother and he was nice and gentle… "Big monster in the ocean," he said and his one eye blinked several times in panic. "We need help."

"It's the Hydra."

"Again?" Percy said.

"Yeah, and it somehow got into the camp boundaries, on Fireworks Beach," Annabeth said. "Which means that it was summoned."

Percy dropped the practice sword and took out his pen. "I'm coming!" I ran after him. "What are you doing? The monster's dangerous –"

"Sure," I said. "Then I'm coming." My heart was pounding. This was the chance I needed to show everyone that I was capable of doing things by myself. That I wasn't weak, and that I could slay monsters.

Even though I only had two days of training.

_You're being hasty…_ the back of my mind warned.

Percy stopped. "No you aren't. You're staying right here, promise me that." Then he turned me and pushed me back to the arena. I stumbled a few steps and looked back. Percy was running into the forest with Tyson and Annabeth by the path that ran behind the armoury. I looked around. No one else had heard that there was a giant monster in the sea and was still happily duelling with a dummy or a partner. I took five steps backwards and then dashed into the forest, following the same path that they took. After running for two minutes, the trees opened up to a beach with calm waves lapping the shore.

Or at least, it would be calm if there wasn't a giant monster waving its long necks around, using one of the seven heads to snap at a cluster of terrified campers hiding behind in the forest. I recognized them to be from the Aphrodite cabin. Percy was now holding his sword and looking for a safe place to be. The necks lashed out at Annabeth and he swung the sword, chopping off a head.

"Percy you idiot!" Annabeth screamed. Two more heads grew and spitted out some green substance that burned through the little vegetation there was.

"It was about to –"

"You have to burn the stumps!"

"I know that!"

The only thing they could do was avoid the jets of poison. Tyson was ripping up trees and forming a barricade for the sons and daughters of Aphrodite to hide behind.

In this position, the Hydra was able to spray as much poison out as it desired, but it was hard to cut the head off and burn off the stump – even if there was fire – because the necks moved too fast and could pull back to the safety of above the sea.

I joined the campers behind the shelter of the fallen trees. No one bothered looking at me, they were too freaked out to do so. "Percy!" I shouted. He was going to be mad that I hadn't honoured his promise, but hey, I figured there were times for exceptions. Percy continued ducking and weaving the Hydra heads.

"I told you not to come!"

"You can't kill the Hydra. Just hide!"

Annabeth grabbed Percy and dragged him towards us. "Sometimes," she gritted, "you have to stop playing hero. We have no fire. We can't burn off the stumps."

Percy slumped. He looked tired. "There has to be a way." The Hydra spewed out more green guck and the bunch of trees gave way, collapsing on the hole the poison had made. We ran for cover, knowing that at least a few campers would die.

All of the sudden, a lightning bolt flew above our heads. I turned to see where it would go. It stunned the Hydra for a while, and stragglers caught up and reached the safety of the forest. "Over here guys!" A lean athletic girl with shockingly spiky hair waved us over. She carried a bow in one hand.

"Thalia!" Annabeth exclaimed and hugged her friend. "You couldn't have come at a better time. Lightning can burn off stumps, right?"

"Let's catch up later," Percy said. "We have a monster to kill. Everyone, go back to the Big House and call for reinforcements. Including you, Lena. Tyson pick her up."

The Aphrodite Cabin obeyed with eagerness and ran away. Tyson stared at me and then my world went upside down as I was flipped over onto his shoulder. "Hey!" I shouted and pounded the Cyclops with my fists. "I need to help them."

"Percy's orders."

"Agh!" Why did he have to adore his brother? I lifted my head to see the beach growing further and further away. _Okay what you can't convince with vinegar, you use sugar._ "Tyson," I said using my nice voice – okay, I didn't have a nice voice. "I really need to help them. So please put me down. You don't want Percy to get hurt, right?"

Tyson said, "Percy kills monsters all the time. He can kill this one."

"Um, no he can't. Because, uh," I raked my mind for a lie. "Because he doesn't have his sword. It got knocked out of his hand."

"Riptide returns to his pocket."

Okay, he wasn't budging. I adjusted myself, saying that I was uncomfortable. His hands loosened, and he murmured, "Sorry." Then I pushed off his chest, twisted in the air and landed on the ground with scraped knees. I couldn't wait to regain my balance and half staggered, half ran back to the beach, paying no attention to Tyson's pleads to come back as he chased after me.

But I've spent plenty of my life running away from monsters. I sprinted back to the beach and saw that the Hydra only had four heads left. Percy was knocked out on the open beach sand. If the Hydra released goo again, there was a chance it would burn through him.

Tyson forgot about his order and ran to save the unconscious Percy. Meanwhile, Thalia and Annabeth were doing as much as they could but they were only irritating the Hydra. I needed a weapon.

_Riptide returns to his pocket_. Switching directions, I reached Percy as Thalia shot another arrow into his throat, enraging the Hydra to snap at her. It produced a bunch of poison and she hid behind a shield that had seemingly appeared from nowhere. Whatever that shield was made of, it was immune to the poison. Locating the pen, I ripped off the cap. The sword gleaming.

Then with no protection whatsoever, I moved out into the open.

"Get back!" Annabeth yelled at me. "You're going to get yourself killed you –"

"You need help, and I'm help," I said. "Even if I'm just a newbie, swinging a sword can't be that hard–" The Hydra blasted poison at us. Annabeth grabbed me and we hid behind the shield with Thalia. One of its heads swerved towards us. I got a brief look at the Hydra head, made of something that looked like leather. Its mouth was full of sharp teeth. I swung the sword down on its neck. Thalia pointed her hand towards the stump and lightning flashed.

Three heads left.

"We'll just wait for it to lunge again," Annabeth said. And it did, for the second time. Everything went smoothly. I cut, and Thalia burned. But the third time, the Hydra decided that it would keep away and spray poison from a distance. It moved targets from us to Tyson, who was carrying Percy back into the woods.

"Oh no you don't!" Annabeth cried and threw her dagger into the side of the Hydra's head. It flicked its head toward us and I sliced the head off neatly. Thalia aimed again and I closed my eyes to avoid the blinding flash. Annabeth picked up the fallen head and pulled her dagger out.

"Just one more left," Thalia said. "One more and then the monster will be dead. Same tactic as always, okay?"

The Hydra moved back towards the sea like accepting defeat. "No, no, no, no!" Annabeth said. "We can't let it get away, it's only going to come back another time."

I was perfectly fine with leaving it alone, but I could see her point. "Alright then, let's go kill it. Can anyone walk on water?" I asked sarcastically.

"I can pray to my father Zeus, but I don't know if he'll be listening," Thalia said hesitantly.

If only Percy was here. Unfortunately, he was in dreamland. I walk out from behind Thalia's shield. The ocean was churning, and then suddenly I knew.

I put one foot into the water, and then the other. The waves built up on either side of me and churned me forward, towards the Hydra. I could feel the waves below me pushing to keep me up – it was an awesome, exhilarating feeling. I rode the waves.

The lone Hydra head seemed to sense me, so there was no chance in me sneaking up on it. It hissed and showed me its scary row of teeth, as if I wasn't intimidated enough. I gripped the sword and aimed to cut the neck, but it moved back and shooting out of its mouth, came poison. I let myself sink into the ocean to avoid it. I looked up and thought about another way to attack it – to jump out of the water and slice that head goodbye.

The water around me propelled me up and then I was in the air. I swiped the sword one more time and the head rolled down. Thalia must've seen me do that because a second later, a lightning bolt fried the stump beyond repair. The necks wiggled – which was not a pleasant sight – and the Hydra disintegrated into sand before disappearing.

By the time I was back on shore, I was so tired I felt like joining Percy and falling asleep. But Percy was already awake and staring at me like _whoa_. I walked over to him and the crowd behind him. The late reinforcements dropped their weapons and stared too. I looked down at my clothes. "Um, is it my hair? Cause I just fought a monster, you know."

Finally, Percy broke the silence and said, "Cool, I have a sister."

**Thank you to those who have actually read everything.**

**This chapter's probably the longest I've written so far… I'll count it as two chapter. ^^ so yay, Thalia's back and her reason and everything that's missing will be explained in the next chapter. And lena's story isn't over yet – far from it actually. Review! Please please review! You have no idea how absurdly happy it makes me when I see someone has done so. :D**

**Until next time. ~^^~**


	6. Unexpected Truths Come to Light

**remember me? Back from my trip to Manhattan and Long Island! Its actually quite a coincidence that I started this story right before visiting there… **

**Hi aitch! I'm on your computer screen. xD btw, get a fanfiction account. **

**Once again read and review… thanks!**

**PJ&O doesn't belong to me.**

**Unexpected Truths Come to Light**

The green trident above my head was only a confirmation of something I had just figured out. Poseidon was my dad. Which was pretty cool, yet scary all the same. I kept looking at it along with everyone else until it faded away and left a smudge of colour in my vision, thinking _Holy crap it's true._

"Well, let's bring the news to the Big House," Percy said and got up to his feet. He swayed a little and then steadied. "I'm fine," he told Annabeth when she reached out to help him. "Invincible, remember?"

"Invincibility didn't stop you from slipping and knocking your head on that rock," Annabeth countered. "We're taking you to Cabin Seven." She ignored his groan and looped his arm around her neck. Tyson followed them. The crowd watched them leave and then turned to me as if I was supposed to tell them where to go. I looked at Cabin Ten. Their designer clothes were wrinkled and their normally neat hair was all messed up. A girl took out a mirror and reapplied her makeup.

"You guys can tell Chiron… about what happened," Thalia said. "He'll make arrangements."

"We don't need you to tell us what to do, Hunter," one Aphrodite girl said coldly, which was out of character. Sure, the cabin may seem snotty and self centered, but they never downright reject someone. She left the beach with her friends. The rest of the cabin followed. All the reinforcements stowed away their unused weapons and walked away until Thalia and I were the only ones left on the beach.

Thalia crossed her arms. Her eyes were starting to burn up with anger and her hair was sticking up more than ever. I had no doubts that she was thinking about frying them into crisps right there.

"You're the daughter of Zeus right? That's how you can do the lightning stuff…" I said lamely. "And a Hunter." That was what the girl had called her. A Hunter… of Artemis? I'd heard of them before. They were a collection of immortal girls or something that… well hunted, alongside the goddess. The catch was that they couldn't fall in love with guys or anything. Except to some hunters, I guessed it wasn't much of a catch for some girls.

"Lieutenant, actually, of the Hunters of Artemis" she murmured and did something with her shield so that it collapsed on itself and transformed back into a bracelet. "Aphrodite and Artemis always had a rivalry, but I thought after the war… Things haven't changed much." She frowned and her hair started shooting up tiny sparks of light.

"Thanks for your help with the Hydra. We would've been hopeless without you," I said and hoped it would calm her down enough. Her eyes lost some anger for a moment and she grinned before resuming her previous expression.

"And congrats on being claimed," she said back to me. Although I had a feeling that she really meant it, it sounded like it was the last thing she needed. "My name's Thalia."

"I know," I said and blushed. "I'm Lena." I wondered whether or not to shake hands with her and decided not to risk it in case she zapped a bolt from her anger. "I should return the sword to Percy. He's going to want it back."

"See you, she said. "I'm going to the Big House. Chiron needs to know we're staying in Cabin Eight." Then she stalked away before I could wave goodbye. I watched her go and absently wiped Hydra poison off the sword by rubbing it against the bark of the tree. It ate halfway through the trunk but I was already in the forest by the time the tree collapsed. The vibration passed underneath my feet.

To tell you the truth, I was sort of expecting something more… hero worthy. To, I don't know, thank me for slaying a monster that was threatening the camp? Maybe once? Or be acknowledged that I was now known as the daughter of Poseidon? Yes, everyone did stare at the top of my head for about five minutes. Sure, Thalia congratulated me, but she said it like I was going to start having unpleasant surprises, as if I didn't have enough already.

I heard Mrs. O'Leary barking from outside Hephaestus' Cabin. After the encounter with the Cyclopes at the door, she'd followed our van to Camp Half-Blood. I didn't know what the mortals saw, but I was guessing a few cars got trampled.

"…Stay still!" a voice said from inside the solid gold cabin. I squinted and walked in, looking for Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson. It wasn't hard to find them. They were sitting in the middle of the room.

"Stay still," Percy grumbled. "When I have ADHD." But he stopped moving long enough for Will Solace to quickly check for any injuries.

"You're okay," he said. "You just might want to take it easy for a few hours, it's not a good idea to start putting strain on you're body. And you might want to change your shirt," Will suggested. Percy's t-shirt was smoking and had many holes on the front side from the poison. I gaped at the fact that there was no giant hole through his stomach.

"Pretty awesome being invincible, eh?" Percy said to Annabeth. "Or I could've been dead right then."

"Don't get overconfident, Seaweed Brain," she warned him.

I spoke before anyone could talk again. "Do you want your sword back or can I keep it?"

Percy held out his hand. "Get your own sword," he said and took out his pen cap from inside his pocket. "It shouldn't be hard to find you one. And I'll see you in my cabin soon, right?"

"Heading over to Cabin Eleven to get my stuff right now," I said and walked out of the cabin into the bright sunlight.

"Thanks for dealing with the Hydra," Percy called from inside. "The camp would be in danger without you and Thalia."

I stopped and looked back at him. "Aren't the camp boundaries supposed to be strong enough to keep out any monsters? The Hydra was over the camp border though."

"It was probably summoned by a camper looking for a challenge," Percy said somewhat slowly. "The camp borders are working fine, we've got the Golden Fleece and Peleus makes sure no one dares stealing it."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Percy, you really think any camper would be dumb enough to let _that _into the camp? It must be someone else who did it." They started bickering and I left the shining cabin behind me for the worn down Cabin Eleven.

Since it was in the middle of the afternoon, I expected the cabin to still be at the swordfighting arena. I hadn't seen them among the reinforcements. But when I got there, the cabin was full and all sorts of loud noises that sounded oddly like stuff being thrown around.

"What's happening?" I shouted over the din.

"Renovations! About time too." Travis answered with a lopsided grin. "No, actually we heard of your killing of the Hydra. And that Poseidon's your dad. It's just an excuse to party."

_Spur of the moment decision_, I thought. Actually, 'party' was just an excuse to get wild. "I'm moving my stuff out, okay?" I yelled.

"Join us later," Travis called back. "It'll be fun."

I shook my head as I gathered my stuff before someone could trample on them. "I'm tired. I'm going to take a nap."

"What?"

"Nevermind!" I picked up the dagger. "See you!"

Connor came over. "You've outgrown us Cabin Elevens," he sniffled. "By the way, I want my sleeping bag back."

Tyson was sweeping the floor with a broom. I stood in the doorway uncertainly, not sure how Tyson would greet me after I kicked him in the chest to get free. He didn't notice me until I dumped the meagre number of my possessions onto a neat unused bed.

"Lena," he said. "You have the same daddy as me." Then he smiled like it was the greatest thing in the world. I mirrored his reflection, glad to be welcomed into Cabin Three, but also got that roll in my stomach as I realized that was true.

"Have you, um, seen Daddy yet?" I asked him. If Poseidon was going to come knocking on the cabin door anytime soon, I wanted to know.

"I work for him," he said and jabbed a thumb at himself. "General."

"Oh yeah. I know that." But did Poseidon only see Tyson because he was interested in him politically? "What about Percy?" That wasn't a very good question either. Of course Poseidon would see Percy. He was the guy who saved Mount Olympus.

"Daddy's busy rebuilding his palace," Tyson said. "He doesn't have a lot of free time."

I sat on the bed that was now mine. "So he won't be visiting Camp Half-Blood soon." Cross 'Daddy' off my list of people to impress. That made me feel better.

I was just about to snooze right there and then when the fountain in the cabin began to wildly sputter until a cool female voice announced a message for Tyson.

"Daddy!" he cried and an image clarified, projected onto the little water droplets, flying up as mist. A middle aged man with a tan and dark hair and green eyes like mine holding a trident. Behind him, a shark swam by. Poseidon. I ducked out of view before he could see me. I just wasn't ready to meet him yet, though half my mind was asking why the hell I just did that… I mean, he wouldn't be ashamed of me if he claimed me, right?

"Tyson, I'm going to need you to come here earlier than planned," I heard him say. "An unexpected complication. Can you be back by tonight? I'll send Rainbow to get you."

"Okay!" he said. "See you." Then the sounds of the sea stopped and I peeked out from behind my poor hiding spot. A pillow, thrown in front of my curled up body. The projection of my dad was gone. "Why are you hiding?" Tyson blinked.

"Checking for bedbugs," I replied briskly. I was aware that it made no sense whatsoever, so I just put the pillow back and pretended to be extremely interested in fluffing up my pillow and folding my clothes with precise neatness.

"You're not a neat freak, are you? Cause I'm far from one," Percy said as he walked in. "If Tyson weren't here, the cabin would be messier than this."

I let the shirt drop to the bed. "I'm not organized either," I admitted. "An Iris message came for Tyson."

"I'm going back to the palace, tonight. Daddy needs help," Tyson explained.

"Um, okay?" Percy jumped onto his bed. "What kind of help?"

"He didn't say," Tyson said.

Percy took out a basketball and threw it up towards the ceiling, catching it before it hit his chest. "I thought he gave you a break, you know, to come here and hang out." He threw the ball a bit too hard and it bounced off the ceiling to rocket back towards him. "He could be understaffed in the Cyclopes forges. Probably needs your help, it's been peaceful on Olympus all year. But here, on Earth, we're still fighting monsters," he sighed, half to himself.

"We can't change that," I pointed out.

"I know," he said. "Not complaining or anything, but even though things have supposedly changed, most things are still the same too."

"Thinking deeply, Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth asked from the door. "That's a change, for once." She smirked as Percy pushed the ball off his bed and stood up. "Chiron wants to call a counsellor meeting."

"Does it have anything to do with the Hunters being here?" he asked.

"Thalia has news from Olympus," Annabeth said. "You know, just a little update on how things are doing."

"Didn't we just hold a meeting like that yesterday?" Percy asked blankly. "After you came back from redesigning Olympus?"

"Fresh news is the best news. Let's go Seaweed Brain," she said through clenched teeth. "They're waiting." Then she pulled Percy out the door.

"Bye Percy!" Tyson waved.

"They're hiding something." It was so obvious. I looked at Tyson to see what he thought of this, but he was busy packing up his XXS camp shirts while humming under his breath happily. Nope, he hadn't thought of anything weird.

"I'll just get Nico to tell me," I yawned and lay down on the bed. Saving the camp was tiring, especially after a late night prank. A nap sounded so good at the moment…

"Lena." I was dreaming about flying pillows and bottles of vanilla flavoured whipped cream. Yup, just your average strange dream. Of course, while you dream, you never thought anything about the strangeness.

"Leeennaaaa," said the pillow, which had suddenly grown lips. It sounded oddly like Percy's voice. I shook my head and woke up. Percy looked down at me. "It's almost dinner, unless you want to starve," he said. "By the way, Tyson says bye."

I stretched. "How was the meeting?" I asked innocently. Percy didn't look at me when he answered. He was busy fiddling with something in his hands.

"Boring," Percy admitted, "if there was a word to describe it." His tone was casual. A bit too casual. "Construction's going well on Olympus and we might finish in a month or so."

The Hunters couldn't have possibly come here just to say that. There was something more to it. "I'll catch up with you in the Mess Hall," I said. "I think I left something in the arena."

The walk to Cabin Thirteen was kind of awkward. I knew people were staring at me. So I kept my gaze on the obsidian cabin and ignored all the whispers. Or at least tried to. When people talk about you, you have to know what they're saying.

"The nerve of her, taking on the Hydra so soon," someone from the Demeter cabin said. "She's so overconfident."

It took all of my willpower not to scream at her, but I made it safely to the door of Cabin Thirteen without injuring anyone. I raised my fist to knock on the door when I heard voices from behind the cabin. Nico… and someone familiar.

"Nico, you know I swore an oath." It sounded like the speaker was surprised, indignant, and sad at the same time. "You know what your sister swore," Thalia reminded him.

"To never fall in love," Nico said flatly. There was a silence as neither one of them wouldn't say anything or meet their eyes. "Sucks for me." Bitter anger. "Why did I even tell you?"

"Nico! Listen, I'm three years older than you, you can't possibly –" Thalia tried to pull on his arm, but he tugged it away and stalked away – thankfully, through the other side of the cabin – and told Thalia to go back to her Hunters. "They're all the company who can stand you!" he said. It was a dangerous thing to say. Thalia's hair began frizzing again and her eyes got that same angry glint as the one she had when she was looked at Aphordite's kids. I cringed just in case she decided to blast Nico into bits.

Instead, she collapsed on herself and started crying.

Stunned, I felt like an intruder, and walked away as quietly as I could. She called me back. "I know you're there," she said. I went back to her and helped her up from the grass, because there was nothing else I could do. The tears had stopped flowing and she looked determined to forget that ever happened. Then she spoke before I could do anything.

"It's just so hard, sometimes, being a Hunter," Thalia began quietly. "I love being part of the Hunters… but I can't help thinking at times if I've made a mistake choosing this life. People like Nico remind me that there could've been another path." She looked at the ground. "But, I still won't give up being a Hunter," she said with more certainty in her voice and looked up at the sky as if to reassure someone up on Mount Olympus. Artemis, most likely. "It's the best part in my life."

I didn't know what to make of this, so I just put a hand on her shoulder gently. "Let's get to the Mess Hall… Everyone's waiting for us."

She nodded and was smiling – sadly – when she saw Nico standing by the side of the cabin, leaning against the obsidian wall. They stared at each other for a moment. I couldn't tell if they were thinking of apologizing, or killing each other. Right now, my arm was around Thalia's shoulder, but I was also sort of Nico's friend. I stayed silent.

"You heard everything."

"I guess I can't blame you for telling the truth," Nico said finally. "But that doesn't mean everything's good." We left it at that, and walked to the Mess Hall together, a silent and short treaty.

**Dx lost the speed of writing I used to have. Not much action in this chapter… just a bit of romance. I don't really know what to do with the whole thalia and nico situation right now, so sorry for the crappy ending. **

**Review. :D thanks. **

**Until next time. ~^^~**


	7. I Get a Letter From Home

**Chapter Seven is up! Finally... my computer is lagging. Dx And thank you for the reviews. :D **

**Disclaimer: PJ&O characters belong to a man called rick riordan. I'm a girl called – forget it.**

**I Get a Letter From Home**

"Congratulations to our new daughter of Poseidon, Elisa Ember," Dionysus said lazily, as if he didn't mean it, and a bottle of Merlot appeared in his hand. Chiron whispered in his ear. "Elena. Whatever." There was polite clapping and some not so nice glances. Then the Mess Hall shook with thunder that had randomly appeared. Dionysus looked up and rolled his eyes at the sky. The bottle of wine turned into a bottle of water. He looked distastefully at it. "Hurrah, now let's eat."

After we were done stuffing food into our faces, Chiron got up for the more formal version of announcements. The Mess Hall respectfully shut up, hearing him clear his throat. "Once again, congratulations to Lena. It is a… surprise to all of us." Yeah right, the news had spread faster than wildfire. "Hopefully, she'll find her new cabin to her liking." He smiled kindly at me but at the same time, I kept thinking of the unspoken words that might as well been spoken out loud from his quivering voice. _Enjoy it while you can._ Then with a tail swish, he turned towards Cabin Eight, where Thalia sat stiffly. Throughout the entire dinner, she hadn't spoken or had any expression on her face for that matter. Rigid and emotionless as a board.

"Welcome to our temporary additions to Camp Half-Blood," Chiron said. His enthusiasm was not shared with the campers. They directed all their attention from me to Table Eight. Most of it was angry attention, especially from Aphrodite's Cabin. "As usual, it is our custom to play Capture the Flag with them… and lose," he muttered under his breath.

"What happened last time?" I whispered to Percy.

"Let's just say Thalia and I had a little disagreement." He was obviously reliving an unpleasant memory. "And I had to carry mummy from the creek to the Big House. Long story."

I was about to ask him for more details when Chiron released us to the campfire. If we wanted to avoid being crushed by excited campers, we had to scamper quickly out of there. Plus, it was hard getting the front row seats, where your marshmallow had the possibly of burning up.

We still ended up getting squished, and I found myself right next to enemy number one: Mark. I looked away, hoping he'd be intimidated by the fact that I now had Poseidon as my dad, but he used it to his advantage instead.

"Who's your daddy?" he asked in a slobby voice and puckered his lips. I kicked him in the shins. He was down for only a moment. "Looks like your daddy broke the rules again."

"The oath is over," I shot back at him. "So technically –"

"You were born while the oath was still under effect," he countered and smirked. "He can't keep his eyes off of woman –"

Percy tapped his shoulder. "Excuse me, but making fun of her is not a very good idea." Especially if he had his pen out.

Mark stared at Riptide but recovered quickly, and brought out a knife, pretending to clean his nails. "Come on, Percy, stop pretending. You're angry at your dad, for forgetting about your mom so quickly, and having another child. You liked being the special child of Poseidon, don't you? Did you really think your dad would remember your mom forever –"

Percy turned red under the evening light. He didn't take the cap off his pen, but raised his fist. "Don't talk about my mom that way," he said angrily and shot his fist forward. Mark caught it and twisted the fist clockwise. I expected to hear a crack any second and did the only thing I could: I kicked him in his soft spot.

~0~

"At least we didn't get into serious trouble," I yawned up at the ceiling. "Chiron was pretty understanding."

"But Mr. D threatened to feed us to the harpies," Percy said with the pillow over his head. I turned off the lights and he came out. "Oh well, it's not like he hasn't before. And I'd like to see the harpies try and eat me."

We laughed in the dark. By now, I knew about Percy and his little bath in River Styx, which he described it as 'never try this at home… or at camp'. Then I sighed. "I'll never stop getting in trouble."

"Um, it's probably because of Mark," Percy said. "Really, after you guys sort things out –"

"Which will like happen _never_," I said. "It's just… a part of me, you know? I don't even mean to. It's like sometimes I don't even think about what could happen."

"I feel that way sometimes – the part about getting in trouble," Percy said. I heard him turn onto his side. "Well, better rest up; we still have bathroom duty with Athena's Cabin tomorrow."

Yep, that's right. I'd gotten myself into bathroom duty. Again. After Travis and Connor Stoll got us out of it. "At least you get to see Annabeth," I grumbled. "I have no one." Then I giggled when a wave of water splashed onto my face. Or at least, it tried to. "Won't work against me, I'm a child of Poseidon too."

He didn't laugh.

I stopped. "Is it what Mark said?" I asked him, and felt horrible guilt. "About your mom?" Maybe Percy would rather me be in some other cabin. Maybe Mark's accusations were right.

"No," he lied. I raised an eyebrow even though he couldn't see me. "Yes," he admitted. "I'm not comfortable about the idea of you… being here. But you've been an awesome half-sister so far," he added quickly. "Saving the camp and everything."

"Thanks." The warmth and the sadness from that statement coupled together, so for a few seconds, I debated whether to glow with pleasure or glower at him quietly, though really, I couldn't blame him. Percy had the most awesome mom in the world, from what I'd been hearing from him. And me? I had a mom who wouldn't give a damn if I skipped school or burn down the entire city, actually. I chose to sigh quietly. With relief, or with exasperation, or both. "G'night Percy," I said, my voice muffled by my sleepiness. I pulled the blanket up to my neck and waited for a reply.

He snored.

Staring up at the ceiling above me, I waited for my eyelids to drop until I was sleeping too.

~0~

My hands shook as I poured myself a glass of juice, like I'd drunk too much coffee and my nerves were jumping around. Instead, the truth was the opposite. Because I'd had a nightmare, I woke up early in the morning, feeling like I'd never slept at all.

I slammed the cup of juice down on the table and pressed my forehead to the wood. I closed my eyes – I could just take a nap here in the midst of chaos and no one would notice…

"Lena?"

I raised my head just for a second to look at him. "Fine." Which, of course, meant _hell no I'm not_. I mean, who was this much of a wreck after a nightmare? But demigod stuff was usually weird, so I took my chances. "_Really_ bad dream."

Percy dropped a knife covered in strawberry jam. "Tartarus," he cursed and wiped the stain as best as he could without spreading it. "About what?"

"I can't remember the exact details. A lot of chaos and stuff. But there's this one scene that really stood out." I paused to raise the cup to my lips and took a sip, somehow without spilling juice onto myself. "I'm standing on this beach. It's a nice day, so I put my foot in the water. Then I'm dragged out into the ocean and drown." How poetic, being sucked to a watery grave. If this was supposed to mean something – a beach visit gone wrong – either I was too stupid to figure it out, or I was too tired to do so.

"Maybe you should talk to Rachel," he suggested between bites of toast and jam. "She could tell you a few things."

"Rachel Dare? The Oracle?" I blinked. From what I had heard, Rachel Dare was a redheaded perky girl who stayed with the Apollo Cabin and gave out prophecies for quests. Except she was at school most of the year, and I didn't know if she was already here. "She's here?"

"Yeah, arrived this morning."

I thought about it. "I don't know…" From what I heard, it was possible to be driven insane by the spirit of Delphi, and I liked my mind sane.

Percy seemed to reconsider his suggestion. "Yeah, you probably shouldn't. Talk to the Oracle. But it doesn't hurt talking to the normal Rachel. As long as she doesn't spew out a prophecy unintentionally in front of you, it's safe. We have the archery range with Apollo's cabin this afternoon. I'll introduce you there."

~0~

After a particularly smelly session in the washroom, Percy and I – and the rest of Cabin Six – were glad to be out in the fresh open air once more. Goodbye smelly mops and permanent graffiti. At least this time, we had magical weapons at our disposal, so it wasn't as bad as last time.

Annabeth tutored me after that in my first lesson in reading Ancient Greek. I'd been dreading this for sometime, actually. Even though most demigods were supposedly horrible at reading English… I doubted they were as bad as me.

"Okay, let's get started," she said. She was holding a huge thick book with some squiggles on the cover, so I wasn't feeling too good about this. "What's the matter?" Annabeth asked, concerned. "You've read books before, right?"

"Before… yeah I have," I mumbled. The truth was, because I skipped class all the time, the last decently long book I read and finished was when I was in Grade Four. And that was before my mom gave up on me.

Annabeth went on. "It's not hard reading Ancient Greek. It's wired into your brain. In fact, some demigods find it easier." She explained the basics and then handed me that big book and told me to start reading.

I stumbled through the words and made mistake more than I could count. I couldn't even get through a single sentence without screwing up a syllable or the whole word. Although Annabeth was patient… okay, maybe sometimes she made a face… I kept gripping the book until my fingers turned white, as if that would help me with my reading skills. It felt like I was a first grader. If Annabeth had asked me to summarize the article – even in English – I would've looked at her blankly. I was too focused on reading those words to even bother analyzing what was coming out of my mouth.

"Not bad," Annabeth said. "For your first try." I don't think she knew that she was frowning. "Which means you still have a long way to go."

I sighed. This was going to be one of those camp activities that would drag on forever.

"Let's try again."

"Hold up a second," a person said above us. I looked up in irritation because he was blocking the sunlight, casting a shadow on both of us. I couldn't really see his face properly, but he held out an envelope to me. "Mail for you," he said. I took it and was about to thank the stranger when he disappeared.

"Who's it from?" Annabeth asked.

I turned the envelope over and read the typed letters. "My parents," I answered. They didn't even bother handwriting the address, which made me feel sad and left out. I ripped the envelope open and found two sheets.

_Drea Lenea,_ It started. I blinked and read it again. Dear Elena. They were typed words too. Maybe it was a little silly, but I believed that letters between families and friends should be handwritten. I continued reading, but it got harder as I went on. Words started swirling around again and the letters jumped from place to place. After ten minutes of uneasy silence, Annabeth offered to get Rachel and help me read the letter.

"No thanks… I'm okay," I said and read silently in my head. Basically, they were wondering if I liked camp and would want to stay there year-round. It was written as if it were in my best interests, but I knew they really wanted to get rid of me. Plus, it seemed like my mom had finally told my dad about the whole 'demigod' thing and 'I hooked up with Poseidon', which made my dad feel pretty damn angry. The letter finally ended with a 'Sincerely, Mom'. Which made me feel cold and angry at the same time. _Sincerely? Are you kidding me?_ I felt like taking out my dagger and shredding it into little pieces and burning it in the campfire.

"There's a second page," Annabeth reminded me. I dropped the first one down on the dirt and unfolded the second one.

A bill. Of all the damage the Cyclopes had done to our house. Apparently, he hadn't just knocked down the front door. The number was several digits long, but I couldn't see the exact cost because once again, I was angry and when that happened, my dyslexia cranked up more.

"What do they want me to do?" I yelled to no one in particular. "Feel guilty? Ask the Cyclop's family to pay for the damage?" Then I took the two sheets and ripped them in half. Quarters. Eighths. You get the idea. In the end, handmade confetti was resting on our hair and no one was talking.

"You know, I have a family like yours," Annabeth said. I tried to block out her voice but I was curious on what she had to say. "We've had a lot of fights… but we always forgive each other." Then she held up her hands. "I'm not saying your family is like my family, but you're reading a lot into the letter."

"Leave me alone," I muttered. "Please."

~0~

My bad mood lasted through lunchtime… and into the afternoon. Percy didn't really know how to get me out of it, and neither did Annabeth, or Nico, or Thalia (by the way, they were avoiding each other). Anger was something that usually faded with time for me.

Percy told me to get a bow and arrow because we were heading down to the archery range. We walked down and I found myself a target. Another girl was watching me. She was supposed to help me, but she had her eyes on some guy from the Morpheus Cabin.

In my opinion, archery was a waste of time. Sure, that time would come when you needed your archery skills because your sword had shattered into pieces and your reinforcements had thrown themselves off a cliff and all you had left was conveniently a bow and arrow. It was a skill that could save your life, and kill monsters.

But while practicing, it seemed like all I was doing was injuring campers.

"Watch it!" the girl shrieked after an arrow lodged itself into the bark of the tree behind her. "Aim for the _target_."

"I was," I mumbled and raised my arms again. Another reason why I hated archery. You needed focus and to stay still in order to hit the target. Thanks to ADHD, it prevented me from being able to do both. Unlike swordfighting, where ADHD actually helped you, archery just didn't accept ADHD.

The arrow flew and the girl ducked again. She scowled and left my side altogether. "Rachel," I heard her say. "Please. Watch her. Maybe your future telling skills will help you in ducking her arrows."

"You're so nice, Blake," Rachel said and I found myself looked at the priestess of Delphi.

She sure didn't look like it. Her jeans had holes in them and she doodled all over her hands and her orange t-shirt. Plus, no green mist was wafting out of her mouth. Yet.

"You're Lena, right?" she said. "Percy's sister."

"Yeah." I confirmed. I took another arrow out and tried to keep my eye on the target, but my gaze kept wandering to Rachel, expecting her to spit out some rhyme that would determine my fate. I loosened my grip and the arrow hit the dirt, slicing open a stalk of grass. "Damn it."

"Um," she looked at her sneakers, which were pretty close to the fallen arrow. "I'll get Chiron. He's a really good mentor."

The afternoon went on with me cursing silently under my breath and Chiron trying to help me. Maybe I got better at target shooting with his help. I did hit the target twice. But I was still terrible. It didn't help that the person next to me was hitting bullseye with his eyes closed, and that the other person next to me was a hunter and could knock out flying arrows out of the way.

Percy and I went back to the arena for some more swordfighting. If we wanted to win against the Hunters in Capture the Flag tonight, it was a good time to brush up on your best skill. My anger melted away with the excitement of the game. Everyone was talking about how they wanted to beat the Hunters for the first in about 60 games. They'd obviously waited a long time to do this.

Even Percy was talking. "Thalia was on my team last time… it's gonna be pretty interesting if we win against them." _Not interesting,_ I thought. _Satisfying_.

Dinner was filled with the campers praying to their parents for victory. Especially the kids from Nike's cabin. They must have a lot of pressure on them, because their mother was the goddess of victory. If we didn't win, they'd get beaten up into pulp, or at least get into a fight.

Then it was time to suit up in the armoury.

"Try this for size," an Aphrodite girl suggested to me. I put it on. It fit me well, but I staggered under the weight.

"Anything lighter?" I asked her desperately. The armour Percy and I used was made with lighter material.

"Yeah, but the armour's ugly. Are you sure you want to wear it?"

I took the new armour.

The next problem was that I couldn't find a balanced sword. So I took the one I usually used – it was a bit heavy for my liking, but you had to have a weapon.

I fiddled with the dagger Percy and Grover had given me on my first day and stowed it in the second sheath. You could never have too many weapons. Unless, of course, it weighed you down.

We gathered in a clearing in the forest. I felt like some warrior in a Greek play, with a sword, armour, some random weird helmet, and a shield. I was used to swordfighting with two hands, but I guessed that if the shield was more of a burden than helpful, I could just throw it down and leave it behind.

"… No maiming allowed," Chiron was reminding us again. He'd gone over the rules before we armed ourselves, but some rules had to be repeated several times for it to sink into some heads. "And of course, no killing," he added as an after thought.

The Hunters disappeared to their side of the woods. I saw a silver flicker through the branches, and then nothing. Thalia had confided with me that she was pretty confident she could beat Camp Half-Blood – and Percy. And with their record, I didn't feel too confident about us.

"So, where do I go?" I asked Annabeth since she was the one ordering everyone around. The flag was somewhere behind me, on the top of one of the many trees.

She looked at me. "Here, at the border. It's your first time."

"Like on defence?" I asked her. Boring. Especially after all that training Percy had put me through this afternoon.

"Yeah. The Hunters are crafty. We'll need all the help we can get to prevent them from getting the flag." Her eyes were serious and determined. From that only, I almost believed that we could win.

"Advice?" I asked.

"Stay alive." She sprinted to Percy on the other side of the river as a conch horn blew. Everyone cheered.

With that recommendation in my mind, the game began.

**Not much to say… but review. xD**

**Until next time. ~^^~**


	8. Nico Visits His Dad

**Read and review. :D**

**Nico Visits his Dad**

I ran through the plan in my head. Annabeth and Percy had come up with it – okay, probably Annabeth came up with it and Percy nodded his head stupidly with everything she said. Well, since Annabeth was the daughter of Athena, it seemed like a good plan.

Percy had quickly explained to me during dinner the strategy at the last Capture the Flag with the Hunters. To get to the flag, they sent two teams. The first time attracted as much attention as they could while the second team sneaked around and got the flag. What screwed things up was that Percy had seen a golden opportunity and ran for the flag when he was supposed to be on defence. ("It really was a golden opportunity," Percy said sheepishly. "It was _right_ there.") Then he tripped over a trip wire and the former lieutenant of the hunters got the flag. Thalia got pissed, and Percy got pissed at her, so they had a little epic battle before the Oracle came in her mummy form and green mist started spilling out.

"This time, we'll be pulling the same trick," Percy had said. "Except Nico will be with team two. We'll get to the flag and he'll shadow travel it right across the border."

"Why not there and back?"

"Shadow travelling takes a lot of energy," Percy said. "He'll be wearing Annabeth's Yankee hat too – though Annabeth isn't really happy about it – so he'll be having full protection."

I walked around in circles, and the shield was killing my arm muscles. So I put it down for a second and rested before picking it right back up. Border patrol. Boring. No one was coming, from the front or from the back. I could hear fighting from both sides, but it didn't seem like anyone was winning. From the number of agonizing screams I heard, I pictured Chiron surrounded by injured campers. This game was really serious.

There was some rustling in the bushes behind me. I whipped around and lifted my sword. A squirrel scampered out, and practically ran over my feet to get away from that shiny scary blade. I sighed and glared at it. _Thank you, squirrel, for giving me a near heart attack_.

Then I resumed being bored next to the creek.

I saw an arrow fly above the tree tops. Was some Hunter shooting at a camper in the tree, maybe someone getting the flag? Well if that was the case, then the game would be over soon and I would've done absolutely nothing.

"They're coming!" someone behind me screeched. Oh great. The guards had failed to fight the Hunters and now they were coming my way. _Get ready for some action, Lena. It's what you asked for after all._ I readied myself.

That was when I heard a sound behind me, like a splash in the creek. I couldn't help turning around in curiosity.

The Hunters' flag, shining silver in the dusk, floated on the river. I crouched by the river edge, not believing what I was seeing. Was it a trap… or…?

Then I noticed the hand gripping the flag. It bobbed up and down, and for a second, I saw a black wrist band. Nico! He must've fallen in – and to his bad luck, on the deeper side of the river. If he had landed several metres to his left, he would've landed on the shallower side of the river.

Thalia burst out into the clearing with our flag. Her shield was out and her sword was in her hand, a variation from the classic bow and arrow. By her side, two other Hunters shot arrows back at the forest. Travis Stoll ran after them, but the Hunter to her right knocked him down with a kick.

I grabbed Nico's wrist, leaning dangerously close to the water's edge and pulled him to the shore. There were no bubbles, so he wasn't breathing in the water. To do something about Thalia, I took out my dagger and threw it at her. Thalia raised her shield just in time to knock the dagger aside. But it had slowed her down.

_Come on Nico,_ I thought desperately. _Why can't you become lighter?_ The ADHD side of me noted Percy crossing the river and sending a wave at Thalia to stop her from crossing the creek. A dangerous move. It was a wave like that that had caused Thalia to shoot a lightning bolt at Percy's chest three years ago. Percy caught up with the gasping Thalia and they sparred, three against one.

Percy's wave gave me an idea. I thought hard and imagined small wave currents pushing Nico to the shore.

Nothing happened. I abandoned the idea angrily. _Some daughter of Poseidon I am!_ Why did he have to be so heavy?

"Get the flag!" Callista, a girl from Cabin Ten screamed at me. "The flag is in his hand!" This was going to be the only time she'd be caught dead with branches clinging to her hair. "We're going to win!"

Thalia knocked Percy's sword aside and sprinted across the water with the flag. I grabbed the Hunter's flag from Nico's tight grip. The conch horn blew again to signal the end of the game, but I wasn't too sure on who won and jumped into the water, pushing Nico back on land. Blood was centering around an arrow wound on his arm. Then I turned him around to face the sky and checked his breathing.

Nothing. I could see him turning blue.

"Move," Thalia said roughly and shoved me out of the way. She put her mouth to his and everyone stared in confusion. _What… is she like asking him to be sorry or…_ Thalia raised her arms and karate chopped him on his chest. Nico sputtered and coughed up some water. He murmured something about Elysium with half closed eyes and then went under again. Everyone cheered.

Chiron clopped over to Thalia. He put a hand on her shoulder, looking extremely confused. "Thank you for –"

"Anyone else would've done the same." She interrupted. "Hunters. To Cabin Eight," she ordered briskly. They obeyed and left uneasily, whispering among themselves.

Chiron had Nico placed on his saddle. But it was hard keeping him upright while he was unconscious so in the end, he was placed with his stomach down and so he flopped over the sides like a puppet. "No campfire tonight. Back to your cabins."

The atmosphere at Cabin Three was tense, though not as tense as I imagined at Cabin Eight.

"Why did the plan fail?" I asked Percy. Why did he end up face down in the deep end of the creek instead of on land?"

He tried not to wince at my words. "Nico was wearing Annabeth's invisibility cap. We got to the clearing and arrows were flying everywhere. He got hurt on his arm." I nodded, remembering his arrow wound. "That must've prevented him from shadow traveling accurately, and the energy it took knocked him out," he hypothesized.

I felt like ripping my pillow up. "I panicked. He could've died if Thalia didn't rescue him."

"You tried dragging him out. Just in time too," Percy offered. "Even though there was a game going on."

"If I took the flag first, the game would've ended quicker and he would've gotten help faster." I couldn't calm myself down. "I tried using my powers. _It didn't work!_ I fail as a child of Poseidon!" I shouted hysterically.

"You just got claimed, Lena."

"I was too focused on dragging him out. I didn't think of anything else – I screw everything up!" There were tears in my eyes. I wiped them away angrily.

"Stop blaming yourself. Demigods are in danger all the time," he tried. "Sometimes they get killed." I froze. He stopped too, realizing his mistake. I dashed out the door, ignoring his words to come back.

I don't know where I was heading in particular. The cold air came as a shock to me and I stopped crying enough so my vision stopped blurring. Cabin Eight was glowing silver in the moonlight – though much brighter tonight. Some other godly presence was behind the cabin. I wondered if it was Thalia.

It was. Thalia and some other twelve year old girl, glowing much brighter than the daughter of Zeus.

"Final warning," the girl warned and looked at me. She had sensed my presence, that I knew. Her eyes were mad. She began glowing dangerously. I turned away to avoid being blasted into ashes.

"Is she a goddess?"

"Artemis," Thalia said grimly. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry, I'll go." I walked away. She let me.

~0~

The next morning, the Hunters were gone. Cabin Eight's table was empty, and this brought out a lot of gossip since Thalia wasn't around to punch their lights out. I felt a mixture of sadness and relief. But the campers shifted the blame of tying in Capture the Flag from the Hunters to me.

At least they didn't do anything big. And at least half the campers still liked me, or didn't blame me. The other half, unfortunately, hated my guts. Cold looks, and cold shoulder, I felt them all.

However, I was okay with living with people who hated me. If they pretended to ignore me, I ignored them. If they glared at me, I glared at them. Still, no one tried doing anything superbly stupid. Their anger would fade away once the next person screws up.

Nico was in the Big House. He was conscious now, and hated being stuck in the hospital. I knew this not because I visited him myself, but because other people visited him and brought the news back to me. I felt like such a coward, especially when Annabeth told me I'd better visit him or risk getting sent to the Underworld.

"Hey," I said and sat down on a wooden chair next to his bed. He looked up from his drink. By the way he was enthusiastically draining the cup, I decided he had been given nectar. "How's it like, being back from the dead?" I risked.

He thought about it for a moment. "Refreshing. And relieved. Dad got angry at me for showing up in his kingdom way too soon." He set the empty cup of nectar on the table next to him. "I didn't see Bianca though."

"Who?" I asked. "Oh, your sister. She's in Elysium, isn't she? And did you go to Elysium yourself? Cause you said something about it when you woke up."

Nico blushed. "No – it's just…" he scowled the way he did when he didn't like the questions you were asking him. "Forget it. Can you tell me why Thalia was standing over me when I woke up? No one's been telling me. I mean, I know how you pulled me out of the water." He didn't sound angry. "But how did I get revived and everything?"

I considered leaving him in the dark, but I didn't want to face his wrath, so I said, "She did CPR on you. You know what you have to do, right?"

His face turned red.

I laughed. "Do you remember when she –"

"I was dead at the time, so I don't think so!" he said indignantly. Then he smiled too. "Glad to be alive though. Is Thalia around?"

I knitted my fingers together, clasping my hands so tightly the circulation stopped. "No," I said slowly. "She isn't. She had to leave early in the morning, with the rest of the Hunters."

Nico stopped smiling. "Forget I asked." His eyes burned with cold anger, and it looked like he was never going to forgive her.

~0~

"Should I tell him?" I asked Annabeth. We were having another lesson in reading Ancient Greek. "I don't know if it would help. But if it does, then maybe –"

" – he'll stop sulking in bed," she finished. "Nico deserves the truth. What he makes of it isn't your fault."

I wavered. "Fine. I'll tell him, after lunch." If this was successful, and got Nico out of the Big House and back with the rest of the campers, after five days of moping, then I'd feel better about everything.

~0~

I sat down next to Nico. He was plainly pretending to be sleeping, but the grimace on his face gave it away. I stayed. He opened his eyes. "Leave me alone."

"Nope!" I said with false cheerfulness. "Cause you see, I need to talk to you about –"

"Don't say her name."

I crossed my arms. This wasn't the good start I had imagined. "_Thalia_," I stressed. "And if you won't listen, that's just your problem."

"What is there to talk about her? She's a Hunter, and she won't give up being one no matter what!" Nico said loudly. "I wish she never came back."

"Nico, she freaking saved your life, okay? She gave you the kiss of life."

"Anyone else would've done the same," he quoted. I wondered who told him that and decided that when I found out, I would torture them. "What else?"

I took a deep breath. "You know when you told Thalia about your feelings for the first time?" The words were rushing out. "After you left, she started crying. Pretty damn hard too. She said that people like you remind her there could've been another life for her."

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked moodily. "I heard everything."

"I'm reminding you. Thalia swore an oath. You can't expect her to give everything up. That would be selfish." I was hoping the whole concept of _making the one of you love happy_ would sink into his mind. "She loves you… but she loves her life as a Hunter too. Can you take that away from her?"

He stayed silent.

"She already risked a lot. In fact, I heard them on the night of Capture the Flag. Thalia and Artemis. Artemis was warning Thalia that this was her last chance to stay with the Hunters. Can you see how much she sacrificed for you?" _If you can't, well you're as thick headed as those kids in Cabin Five_. Really, I had no idea where these words were coming from. But I could see they were making an impact on him.

"I don't –"

"Think about it," I pleaded. "Please?"

He didn't answer and went back to pretending he was asleep.

**It's a shorter chapter, but it felt right to end it here. once again, please review.**

**Until next time. ~^^~**


	9. I Play with Love Magic

**To those curious, I'll probably be updating every two days. However I cannot make any promises, this summer's been crazy for me in terms of schedules. And my brother keeps hogging the computer. D:**

**Disclaimer: getting bored of writing these… don't own pj&o characters…**

**Read and review!**

**I Play with Love Magic**

_I am so not going to be a therapist when I grow up,_ I thought and crossed my arms against the sudden cool breeze. Hell. Aphrodite's kids would know what to say to a heartbroken demigod. That would be one thing they were better at than me. I was no expert in emotions.

I went to the arts and crafts house to work my anger out in creating something exceptionally ugly. "How did it go?" Annabeth asked me. My luck Cabin Six was also here. I didn't feel like talking to her. She was working with clay, making something like an owl. "Did he forgive you?"

I grabbed a hunk of clay and kneaded it with all my energy until it was soft and workable. "That's the thing. I don't know." The heat was building up with the clay so I stopped and wiped my dirty fingers on my jeans. "What I said could be used in a movie, or something. Except Nico didn't smile brightly and say 'All is fine'." I picked the piece of clay back up again and worked on it.

"That's Nico for you," Annabeth muttered and picked up a sharp utensil to add details to the owl's eyes. "How did he react?"

"He didn't answer," I said and pulled furiously on the clay.

Annabeth looked at my project. "Need help?" she asked. "Or are you going to continue pulverizing that thing until it breaks apart?"

I threw it down. "Never mind." The end product was… well, nothing in particular. Just an abused piece of clay. "I don't get why he's so, I don't know, obsessed with her," I said to myself. "He needs to get over the fact that she left and she isn't coming back."

Annabeth shaped the owl's wings. "Let's wait it out and see what happens. If he's still going to act moody and depressed – um, more moody and depressed, then we'll come up with a plan."

I paused and took a break from punching holes into my piece of clay. "A plan? What kind of plan?"

"A distraction," she said. "And maybe some of Aphrodite's magic."

~0~

Nico was out of the hospital by the next day. Not by his own free will. Apparently, Chiron had told him that Mr. D would blast him out of boredom sooner or later, because Nico was going to be the only one around sulking on a hospital bed. And no one in their right mind would like to be blasted by Mr. D so he left.

"First you wanted to get out of the Big House," I told him. "And then you wanted to stay." I splashed some water by kicked my feet in the water. We were sitting by the river's edge. I'd taken off my shoes. Nico was… being Nico.

"Shut up," Nico said and did his signature scowl to the river's reflection. A few naiads kicked up water into his face, thinking that Nico was frowning at them. He wiped the water off his face and moved away from the water edge.

"Just pointing it out," I shrugged and yelped when a naiad pulled on one of my toes. "Okay, I'll get out," I said and wiped my feet dry on the grass. "Couldn't have done a subtler sign?" Then I turned towards Nico. "You want to go down to the Fireworks Beach or…" He didn't answer. "Nico?" I cursed. "Nico, where did you go?" Unless he jumped into the water when I wasn't looking, the only option for him to get away was on the path. Or by shadow travelling, but if I were him and I had just about drowned by shadow travelling a few days ago, I wouldn't try it. I wriggled my sneakers on and ran down the dirt path, kicking up dust behind me.

"Whoa, not so fast," someone said behind me and put a hand on my shoulder. Caught by surprise, I took out my dagger and turned around, expecting a monster. But it was only that delivery guy, except this time he was wearing jogging clothes. A bag probably full of letters was hanging on his shoulder.

"Sorry," I said and wondered what the Mist would disguise the dagger as. If it looked like a feather to him, then good. If not, then bad. Bonus points if it looked like a gun – sarcasm intended.

"Don't go waving that around all the time," he said and wagged a finger at me. I backed up, blushing and tripping over a tree root at the same time. "Put that away," he ordered and I did so.

"You have another letter for me?" I asked. Whoever this was, he could see through Mist and he obviously wasn't a normal mortal. Or probably a mortal. He did get through the defences of Camp Half-Blood after all. "If it's from my parents, just write 'Reply to Sender' on it."

He whistled. "You have the nerve to ask me to do something like that." The guy rummaged through his mail bag and pulled out a crisp, white, and business like envelope. "Okay then, this is going back to New York City." He took out a pen and scribbled something on it. The pen wiggled.

I took another step back. "Um… sir… your pen has snakes on them."

"I wish they'd stop moving," he sighed. "The grip was fine as it was."

_I love creeping out new demigods,_ someone said in my head gleefully.

"Then stop," the mailman said and then put the letter into his satchel.

"You heard that," I said. "Right? And um, these snakes… talk." Talk about your average mailman. "Who are you?"

"I know you, Lena. You're Percy's little sister, right?" I bristled at this. Percy's sister? Was that what I was known as around here? "I go by Hermes, but Messenger of the Gods work too," he said nonchalantly. "God of travelers, and thieves." He held up my dagger and winked.

I grabbed it from him and then realized it was probably not a good idea to treat a god like that. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? And what brings you Camp Half-Blood… sir?" Were these questions polite enough? I usually didn't do 'polite'.

"I deliver messages," he said. "Usually between gods, but someone told me to keep a close eye on you." I didn't like the sound of that. "So, I'm your personal mailman," Hermes said.

"If you are the messenger of the Gods," I said, getting an idea, "Can you please deliver a message for me?" He looked suspiciously at me. I gulped and wondered if it was a good idea that wouldn't get me blasted into a million pieces. "I know I shouldn't be asking favours from a god… sir."

Hermes thought about it.

I linked my fingers together. "It's for Aphrodite," I added.

He frowned at me. "Why do you need a message for Aphrodite? Usually it's from the guys, not from the girls."

"No – no, nothing of the sort," I stammered and felt my ears heat up. "Can you tell her to leave my friend Nico alone? Or at least help him?"

Hermes put the pen back in his pocket. "Aphrodite's having her fun," he said. "She'll get bored sooner or later… in a few years, but I wouldn't try and fool around with whatever she's doing."

"Having her fun?" I asked angrily. "Is this all a game to her? Breaking hearts and endangering one's position? What kind of a goddess is she? She plays around with demigods like they're chess pieces!"

Hermes put his hands up. "I wouldn't anger her if I were you. You've got enough gods pissed at you as it is." Then he frowned. "Said a little too much, did I? Oh well, I've got a lot of messages to pass around. Zeus and Hera aren't speaking to each other – so they're using me," he said. "Ciao."

"Now hold on a second –" But he began glowing dangerously so I averted my gaze. When I looked back at where he used to be, the sand was smoking. I looked up to the sky and glared. Why couldn't the gods be more responsible?

~0~

"I have now officially lost any respect for the gods," I said to my pillow. "They aren't much better than normal mortals."

"No kidding," Percy said. "When I first heard of them, I thought they would be like gods. But they blend in with humans quite a lot. The first time I met Ares he was a biker –"

I rolled onto my back. "That's not what I meant," I said. "Not their appearance. They're so nonchalant about us. I bet they'll fool around and mess up our lives if they were bored."

Percy looked up from wiping hopefully fake blood off Riptide. "What makes you think that? I know they can seem like that sometimes –" his eyes went to the roof. The sky thundered. "But you get used to it."

"Get used to being a demigod?" I snorted. "Yeah right." A few minutes passed in silence. I think he realized I didn't answer his question because he stopped talking about the subject. "So what are we doing tomorrow?"

"Swordfighting, probably, plus javelin throwing. And arts and crafts too," Percy said. "Capture the Flag is tomorrow. We're with Athena's cabin."

"Of course."

"Huh?"

"Nothing," I muttered. "Who else is on our team?"

He stopped wiping for a moment and thought about it. "A few of the minor gods. Eris, Morpheus, Iris, and Hecate. For the major gods, we have Hephaestus, Dionysus, and Hermes."

"Oh yeah, about Hermes," I said. "He paid me a visit."

"Did you sneak out after curfew or something?" Percy asked. "Cause I met him that way."

I caught myself. Of course. Mr. Prophecy Child would've met all of the gods. "No, I was with – all alone. On a path in the forest. He had some letter from my parents. He's apparently my mailman. Whoopee. I'm not giving him any tips though."

Percy sighed. "I didn't get that kind of treatment, that's first class service for you. What did the letter say? Not as bad as last time right, that had you ripping the letter into pieces."

My fingers twitched. "I told him to return it to them. I didn't read it."

"You asked _him _to –"

"I didn't know he was Hermes!" I said hotly. "And then after that I asked him if he could send a message to Aphrodite."

"What for? You're not –"

"No!" I interrupted again. "Just… to stop messing around with demigods. I don't like how she has her 'fun'." I put air quotes around the last word. "And I thought the love goddess was powerless." Another crash of thunder. I should really shut my mouth. Jeez. We couldn't even talk about the gods without causing a thunderstorm. "Oh, one last thing. Hermes said something. Apparently enough gods are pissed at me as it is."

Percy dropped the sword.

"You know something, don't you," I exclaimed.

"Why do you think so?" he replied nonchalantly and picked up the sword. He took out the cap and the sword returned to its pen form. "Do you think I'm lying?"

"Yes, duh. I've been lying my entire life, Percy, give me some credit." My stomach sank. "What do you know?" I reached out to his arm so he couldn't escape.

"Lights out," he shouted and the lights flickered out. I overbalanced and fell down. Percy moved somewhere to my right. "Um, sorry."

I got up. "Okay, I get the point, I shouldn't know. Whatever. Just don't blame me if I end up dead because I didn't know the thing that you know." I waited for him to explain.

He didn't.

~0~

Despite the many warnings I've heard not to piss off the gods, I waved them off anyway. If the gods didn't like what I was doing, then screw them. I caught up with Annabeth after breakfast as she led her cabin back to Cabin Six for cabin inspection.

"Hey," I said.

She frowned. "You might want to be helping Percy, cleaning up your cabin. He's a slob." She was right. Our cabin was a complete mess now. I'd collected more belongings since my arrival, including a new set of clothes, a bunch of textbooks given to me by Annabeth to practice Ancient Greek, and a hidden stash of junk food Percy and I shared. Tyson had cleaned up the cabin only a week ago, but it only took a week for us to mess up our cabin.

"It won't be long. Um, you know how you were talking about distracting Nico?" I asked. Annabeth shifted from foot to foot and looked inside the cabin where her sibling Malcolm was ordering everyone around. "And using some of Aphrodite's magic?"

Her eyes went to the window of the attic in the Big House. "I've thought about it," she said, and it did sound like she did. "And I've decided it's not a good idea to do what I've originally planned."

I crossed my arms. Was everyone turning me down these days or what? "What did you originally plan?"

Annabeth sighed. "Forget about it, Lena."

"Why –"

"I said _forget about it_," she said, more forcefully. "I'm a child of Athena, and I know how things end, and the consequences outweigh the benefits." Logical thinking. That was what Cabin Six was all about.

"Okay," I said. "If you really don't want to do it… I can't do it myself. I'll see you around." I turned towards Cabin Three and started walking and looked behind me. She was looking at me like she knew I wasn't going to my cabin, but she was also looking at her cabin so in the end, I waited until she dashed inside her cabin.

I switched directions and walked towards the Big House.

The door opened with a squeak. I hoped everyone was too busy cleaning up their cabins to notice me, but there was a possibility that Chiron or the satyrs would be around. I tiptoed in, feeling just like the day I broke into the camp store with Travis and Connor.

The staircase was at the back of the farmhouse. My hand was on the railing and my foot was on the first stair when I actually began thinking whether or not this was a good idea. And who knew what waiting for me up there? I _did_ hear it used to be the Oracle's residing spot. Did they even move the mummy yet? What if it was still there, decomposing? Ew, that would be unpleasant to the eye and to the nose.

"What are you doing, Leslie?" Mr. D asked. I turned around to see the wine god right beside me, wearing a Hawaiian shirt. He was holding a cup of soda and staring right at me. I thought about dashing up the staircase.

"Lena," I corrected.

"Linda," he persisted stubbornly. "Trying to sneak up to the attic." He looked at his soda, considering. I didn't move a finger in case he thought I was going to make a run for it. I figured that gods had amazing reaction time. Then he shrugged and yawned. "Go on ahead, it might make my day seeing you driven insane by the Oracle."

"The Oracle isn't with the mummy," I said when I really should be going up and thanking him. "Rachel –"

"Don't talk about that foolish mortal," he snapped. "Your chances of making my day or even _surviving_ the _minute_ are getting slim." I took the cue and stumbled up the stairs, failing at my plan to be suave and cool.

I tugged at the cord and the door opened above my head. After I lifted myself into the attic, I brushed the dust off my palms and suddenly knew why Annabeth had thought of here.

The place was filled with junk. _Not junk_, I thought. Forgotten stuff. Dusty trophies, old and broken weapons, parts of monsters killed. I saw a stuffed Hydra head and tripped over a broken sword trying to get away from it. _Okay, maybe junk_. My hands touched the table behind me and I turned to examine and see if there was anything I was looking for.

I cut my finger on broken shards of glass three times before I found something Annabeth could've been thinking of. A pink scarf that shimmered under a nonexistent light, smelling of roses or some other flower. I read the plaque.

**Scarf of the Goddess Aphrodite**

Recovered at Waterland, Denver, Co.,

By Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson

I ran the scarf through my fingers. It made me feel vague and dreamy, but I snapped out of it and stuffed it in my pocket. _Exactly what I need_. I looked around one last time, wrinkled my nose at the mildew smell, and lowered myself through the open trapdoor.

~0~

"Where've you been?" Percy asked and threw several clothes under his bed. He pulled down on the blanket so it would cover the space between the bottom of the bed and the floor. "Callista's on cabin duty and she's almost as bad as Silena – the last counsellor." He shook his head. "You won't know her – basically, Callista's a neat freak."

I picked up an armload of clothes and hid them under the bed, like Percy did. Then I took an empty chip bag and thought of what to do with it – when Callista came in. I threw it behind me into the fountain.

She was holding a clipboard and frowned when she saw our cabin. "The edges of your blanket aren't tucked in," she said and looked like she was smelling the breath of a monster. Percy rolled his eyes next to me. "And garbage in the fountain?" she asked and held up the soggy wet chip bag.

I coughed.

Callista continued on to describe the minute problems in our problem. I wanted to take out her mother's scarf and choke her with it right there. But I figured that would make Aphrodite pretty upset so I didn't. Finally, she ended her rant of 'constructive criticism' and sighed like we could do _much_ better. She wrote something down on her clipboard and left muttering, "Barely better than Cabin Eleven," in a tone that suggested she had wanted us to fail.

"Constructive criticism my ass," I grouched once I was sure she was out of hearing range. "She enjoyed pointing out _every single damn crumb_."

"No kidding," Percy agreed. "But if you were here, maybe she wouldn't have to point out 'every single damn crumb'." He looked meaningfully at me. "No, seriously, where were you?" I fidgeted.

"Breaking the rules," I replied, and gave him a look that would make him confused whether or not I was being sarcastic. Hopefully, he thought I was being sarcastic.

"Let's go to the arena," he suggested.

It would've been a lot easier if I could just wrap the scarf around my neck and pretend like I got it from the camp store or something, but Annabeth and Percy had recovered it so I couldn't. It stayed in my pocket, working its magic even from down there. For the rest of the morning, I was kind of distracted and noticed really odd things like _Wow that boy is cute_, or _They would make a cute couple_. Then I'd make an expression like I ate a sour lemon.

Actually, on second thought, I was glad it had stayed in my pocket. If I'd wrapped it around my neck, I would've been giggling and yelling at people for leaving bread crumbs on their beds.

"Did you eat something bad at breakfast today?" Percy asked me after he managed to get the sword tip at my throat again. "You're not as aggressive as before, and that isn't you."

"Just a second." I clutched my stomach like I was going to puke and ran off to the forest. Once I had enough cover, I took out the scarf and climbed up the tree until I couldn't see the ground and tied the scarf to the branch. I shimmied back down and carved an X with my dagger to mark the tree. Then I headed back to the arena, my head cleared of any love of any kind.

"Feeling better?"

"A lot better," I answered and raised my borrowed sword – still unbalanced – to fight. I'd asked one of Hephaestus' kids to forge me a sword, but they were busy with replacing the practice dummies so I still had quite a while to wait. We sparred for another hour until Percy said other cabins were waiting to use the arena.

Javelin throwing was not for me. The javelin always seemed to manage to dive to the ground, no matter how hard I threw it, or how high up I aimed it. Clarisse La Rue watched me with a disapproving eye. I was getting tired of the sport quickly. One time, I whipped my arm so hard I tipped forward and landed on my face. Another time, I thought I felt my shoulder joint disconnect.

Clarisse told me to toughen up and try again. "I've broken ribs before, now hurry and get up or I'll drag you up."

I wriggled my fingers to see if the nerves were still connected and picked myself back up. Thank god Mark was finally leaving me alone. I guessed it was because he didn't want to sing soprano again in front of all the campers.

After having the pleasant experience of dislocating my shoulder joint five times, I was ready to eat. But I needed to check up on the scarf first, so I decided to pretend that breakfast was coming back up. Not my favourite excuse, but you got to do what you got to do.

"Lunch time, Lena," Clarisse said. She hadn't thought up of an insulting nickname yet, so she just called me by my actual name – er nickname. I told myself to get on her good side so I could save my dignity.

I replied by holding up a finger and running to the forest again.

I didn't have to worry about not finding the tree. The X from this morning was deep and clear on the bark. I found a foothold on the trunk and hauled myself up the tree. The branch with the scarf was coming up in view right above my head. With a last gasp, I pulled myself onto the branch and searched.

The scarf was gone.

**Dun dun dun… suspense. :D thank you to those who reviewed! You have made my day. Review, if you are kind, please.**

**Until next time (two days from now)! ~^^~ (btw that comes from my friend JIAJIA! Love you forever… maybe. xD)**


	10. We All Get Drunk

**Here's the next chapter. I've changed the description because I've now gotten a sense of feeling on where I should go with this story… no, it's not going to be a parody or a story based entirely on stupidity, but if you don't like the idea, or have suggestions, then just review or pm me.**

**Disclaimer: don't own pj&o… -insert something witty here-**

**Read and review! **

**We All Get Drunk**

I carefully crawled on the branch and looked below me. Was it possible the scarf had somehow dropped to the branches below? No, that couldn't be possible… after all, I'd double tied the knot. Someone would've needed to come up here and undo the knot... someone had taken the scarf.

I sat on the branch for about thirty seconds, my mind thinking only _oh my god; I am so screwed_ and nothing else. Then I felt relief. Well, whatever happened at camp wouldn't be my fault now. I mean, whoever had the scarf would take the blame, not me, for once. _I'm going to need another plan to heal Nico's heart then…_ I lowered myself carefully onto the branch below me, reassuring myself over and over again that the fact that the scarf had gone _poof_ was a _good_ thing…

I half-expected couples to be making out in the middle of the mess hall when I went in for lunch. Nope. No one was making out… though the pavilion was filled with silence. Nobody was eating or talking. They just sat there with dazed and shocked expressions like they'd just witnessed something unbelievable. Some expressions were dreamy, but other expressions were fuming. Especially Aphrodite's children. Even Travis and Connor Stoll were looking a bit grey.

Like I expected, everyone noticed me arrive. I tried to look a little sick and nauseous, like my cover suggested I should look like. Chiron frowned at me, and Dionysus smirked like he knew something I didn't. The campers… stared at me angrily like I should never ever be late for lunch again. "What's up with everyone?" I asked Percy once I sat down. "They're freaking me out."

"What did you do?" Percy whispered to me quietly, like he was afraid to break the quietness of the mess hall. "And don't lie, you definitely did something." His hand closed in an iron grip around my wrist.

I was a little taken aback. "Ex –excuse me? I can't sick or anything?" I asked him. "Nothing. I did nothing, okay, but puke my guts out. Can you _please_ let go of me? You're cutting off my circulation." Was it just me or was the entire hall eavesdropping on our conversation.

Percy ignored me. He looked up at Chiron.

Dionysus yawned. "What's wrong? Don't like the food?" he asked the campers. The spell broke and demigods began eating again, reluctantly removing their glares from me.

"Let's go," Percy said. I looked down at my uneaten hamburger.

"I'm starving, can you at least wait five minutes?"

"Rachel is waiting," he said. "Come on, Annabeth's with her." I glanced at Table Six and Table Seven, noting that they were indeed missing. Malcolm was sitting where Annabeth usually sat as counsellor and Rachel just wasn't at the Apollo table.

"They won't get mad?" I asked, waving my fork, with stabbed green leaves of salad towards Mr. D and Chiron.

"They'll understand," Percy said. "Let's go. Annabeth hates it when people are late." We stood up and left the eating campers behind us.

I expected him to take me to Cabin Six, or Cabin Seven, but instead, we went inside the Big House. I followed him up the staircase towards the attic with an uneasy feeling, confirmed once Percy pulled on the latch.

"Go," he said. I rolled my eyes and heaved myself up.

"Ladies first would've been more courteous," I suggested, looking down at him until he managed to get up too. "So what's the big deal? I hate it when I skip meals you know," I informed the three of them. Annabeth was pacing around the room, and Rachel was admiring a dusty old painting hanging on the wall. It was extremely ugly. They both turned to look at me. Annabeth kept walking until she stopped by the plaque next to where Aphrodite's scarf used to be.

She pointed to the empty spot. "You knew what I was thinking of this morning. You took it, didn't you?" She stamped her foot on the ground. No really, she did. And I thought they only did that in movies. "When I told you it wasn't wise, it means there's no way in Tartarus the plan will succeed!"

"Well what happened in there? Because no one is telling me anything about it, and I seriously need an answer," I said angrily.

"Aphrodite came to visit," Rachel said. "And she was just about as angry as Annabeth is now." Annabeth glared at her but Rachel didn't flinch, which was an admirable feat. "She wants her scarf back."

"Why now? It's been in the attic for years," I said. "She's a goddess; isn't she supposed to have godly powers that can help her find it?"

Percy shrugged. "The gods are weird." Thunder rumbled and he shut his mouth.

I spread my fingers. "I can't return it. Someone else took it from me," I said. "I tied it on a tree during swordfighting and when I went back to get it, it was gone."

"It's gone?" Rachel asked.

"Yes, it's gone, she just said it!" Annabeth said exasperatedly. "Oh gods, this isn't good. You're now in Aphrodite's black book. As well as Zeus's, Hades, and just about half the Olympians on Mount Olympus. It's just like what you said, Rachel."

"Did I miss something?" Percy asked. He sat down on an old stool that creaked under his weight.

"Rachel had a prophecy while you were fetching Lena from the pavilion," Annabeth said. "Not for a quest… Just like a weather report on how the gods are doing. _Chaos beneath the calm/in the immortal realm_."

Rachel blinked. "Really? I didn't feel anything… it's weird, these time lapses. The other day, I was sitting in math staring at the board and the next thing I knew, the teacher was yelling at me for peeking at the math test…"

"It was unexpected," Annabeth said. "To have the green mist start coming out of you." I was glad I wasn't around to see that. Enough freaky things were happening… such as…

"Wait a second. Did you say there are gods up there –" I waved above us – "that want to destroy me?" I wasn't the quickest thinker on earth. Annabeth looked at me blankly before remembering what she said a minute ago, how I was in the gods' black books.

"Yep," Percy said. "Don't worry, I had that happen to me before." I threw him a withering look. I wasn't planning on going on some legendary quest to get the gods on my good side.

"But why?"

Annabeth was still in her mood. "I don't know," she said with sarcasm. "Think about it Lena. You're a daughter of Poseidon. Poseidon broke his oath _twice_ now. How do you think Zeus and Hades feel about it?"

"The oath's done," I said stupidly.

"You were born while the oath was still in effect," Annabeth said. "So you shouldn't exist."

Percy sighed. "Why is it always the children of Poseidon who get this speech said to them? 'You shouldn't exist…' It's just like when I was twelve."

Annabeth gave him a look that told him to stop talking. "Now you've got Aphrodite against you. By taking her scarf without her permission –"

"It was sitting in the attic!" I protested.

" – she's not happy. She came here personally to ask for it back."

"I don't have it," I repeated. "I lost it. Someone took it."

"Why did you take it in the first place?" Annabeth shouted at me. Percy put a shoulder and told her to calm down. She did calm down significantly after that, hugging herself in the mildew-smelling attic.

I was getting worked up before this, and I took this chance to slow my heart rate too, before I accidentally choked someone in this place. "I thought I could help Nico. He was so broken after Thalia left…" Now came the cheesy part. I said it to myself in my mind and then rephrased it, and then again. They waited for a full minute before I talked again. "I wanted him to know what it was like not thinking of Thalia all the time."

"You didn't see all the mistakes and problems that could've occurred," Annabeth said.

"You were the one who planted the idea in my head."

"But still! Any not blind person could've seen this wasn't a good idea!"

Rachel spoke up again. "You like Nico, don't you?"

Annabeth and Percy stared at her before staring at me. "As a friend, yeah, I like him," I said, not getting the full meaning of her words. "He's a good friend and it sucks to see him so down."

"Children of Poseidon are _all_ blind in terms of feelings," Rachel noted. "I thought Percy was the slowest guy on earth… but like brother like sister."

"What _are_ you talking about?" I demanded. Once again, I had no idea what was going on and I hated it when it was like that.

Annabeth started to smile for the first time since we entered the attic. Then she stopped. "Okay," she said, using her strategic voice. "Now we know why Lena took the scarf. But just knowing that doesn't solve the problem. We need to know who took the scarf before whoever it was goes off and causes all sorts of situations." She started pacing again. "You said you tied the scarf on a tree. Which tree was it?"

I went to the window. "It was the one right… I'll show you. You can't see anything with this view." Percy opened the trap door and waited for me to lead. I climbed down slowly and paused at the bottom of the staircase to wait for the rest of them to catch up. Annabeth was looking for evidence, and I was going to give her evidence.

"I never knew," Percy said to me. We trudged through the Big House towards the path behind the swordfighting arena.

"Never knew what?"

"That you liked Nico."

"Dude, we're friends," I said. "You can't be friends if you hate each other – why are you laughing?" I ran through the words in my mind. No, I didn't say anything stupid. Or was that the wrong reply to his statement? Did his statement have a double meaning? "Oh my gods, no, I didn't mean it that way – you know what I mean!" I said crossly and pushed him as he laughed even louder. I was giving him my death look but he was ignoring it. "You are so difficult to talk to!" I yelled and stalked ahead.

By the time I got to the tree with the X, I was fuming. "Right up there," I said and pointed to a branch several meters up.

Annabeth walked around the tree several times, examining her surroundings. I waited for her to play detective, take out a magnifying glass, or dust for fingerprints. My gaze wandered to the ground and I saw my footprints leading away from the tree. Vaguely, I wondered where the other set of footprints were, the ones belonging to the thief. I could see none… maybe the person purposely covered it up or something.

"I'm going up," Annabeth announced and grabbed onto the lowest branch, swinging herself up. It was a lull time of a minute before her voice called down to us, faint from the distance. "Which branch was it Lena? There are tons of them here… oh!"

"Annabeth?" Percy asked. "Are you okay?"

"Come up here!" she said. "I found something!"

"The scarf?" I asked hopefully.

"Just come, will you? Oh my gods, are those my owl earrings?" she sounded angry and delighted at the same time.

"We're coming up," Rachel said. She moved surprisingly fast for a mortal. Percy and I followed.

One thing I didn't expect to see was a giant tree house on the uppermost branches. It balanced precariously on the branches and I was surprised it didn't come crashing down in a position like that. It was put together in a tacky way that suggested a novice built it. I figured that Hephaestus' kids had nothing to do with this. "Annabeth?"

She came out from inside the tree house and had to duck her head to get out. "There's a bunch of stuff in here. They've been adding to their collection for years." She was holding up a pair of silvery earrings. "I was wondering where these went."

Percy gripped the branch in front of him and carefully stepped over to the tree house. He poked his head inside. "This has _Hermes_ written all over it," he said. "Travis and Connor Stoll specifically."

I nearly tipped over from my excitement. "Is the scarf there?" I asked and joined him in the tree house. It was like being in the attic again. The place was stacked full of stolen items. Most of them useless. Like I didn't know what Travis and Connor could do with a pair of pink earmuffs, or Annabeth's earrings, and I didn't want to know why they stole them in the first place.

"No scarf," he said. "You'll probably have to ask them yourself."

I picked up a bathrobe. It was a lot dirtier, but it was the one I'd worn to camp. "How do you know it's Travis and Connor? It could be anyone in the Hermes cabin." He pointed to the wall where _Travis and Connor_ was spray-painted in large red letters. "Oh," I said, feeling stupid.

Percy grabbed a bag and turned it upside down. Golden drachma spilled out. "I don't want to think they stole this."

"They probably didn't," I said. "Stealing... they're more into pranks. I think they got that from selling coke – everyone needs a little caffeine. And everything here isn't important."

"Hey!" Annabeth protested.

"They didn't know those earrings were valuable," I said. "To guys, jewellery is jewellery. Like a scarf is just a scarf… except when it's Aphrodite's scarf," I muttered to myself.

Rachel put her head in. "Is that a tie dye shirt?" she wrinkled her nose. "There's nothing useful in here."

"My point exactly," I said. "Well. Are we going to ask for the scarf back or not?"

~0~

Cabin Eleven was having a volleyball tournament. But no one was playing seriously. They swung at the ball but nobody actually managed to hit it. They were all laughing and it seemed like they were drunk on excitement. I knew that feeling from carrying Aphrodite's scarf in my pocket.

"Travis? Hey, Travis, I need to um, talk to you," I said. "Do you have a pink scarf with you, or lying around somewhere?"

He flashed a lopsided grin. "Sorry, can't help you. Connor has it." He pointed to his brother on the other side of the court. I ducked to avoid the volleyball and made my way over.

I tapped on his shoulder. "Connor, I need the scarf."

"What scarf?"

"The pink one. The one that makes you high," I described.

He took it out of his pocket. "This one?" his eyes glowed with excitement and mischief. I swiped at it. He raised his arm so I missed.

"Yes that one," I huffed. "And I would love it if you give it back. You saw Aphrodite today, I need to return it."

Connor shook his head. "I'm not done with it yet," he slurred. The magic was getting to his mind. That wasn't very good, if it had the capacity of driving him insane. I slapped him. His eyes cleared of the fogginess. "What was that for?"

"Give me the scarf or I'll do it again," I threatened. And I knew my slaps were really good. "Not kidding Connor."

He sobered up and handed the scarf to me. "You owe me a good prank," he said cheerfully. I stared after him. That had been a lot easier than I expected. "That magic was driving me crazy," he admitted.

I almost dropped the scarf and then put it in my pocket, feeling whoozy already. "I'll see you," I said. "Sorry about that slap." Strange, it had a more powerful effect over Connor than me. Did it have something to do with our parentage?

"Did you get it?" Percy asked in our cabin.

I moaned and then collapsed on my bed. "Yes. I hate it, it messes with my brain. What was I thinking, using it to help Nico?"

"You were blinded by your love," he joked. I pretended to consider whether or not I should throw my dagger at him.

"Yeah, I guess I am," I replied absently and stroked the scarf in my pocket.

**Sloppy writing, I know, but I've been busy and trying to keep my promise of updating every few days. Yes, I know, realm and calm don't rhyme, but if you have a better suggestion please tell me.**

**Comments? Review!**

**Until next time! ~^^~**


	11. Rules are Made to be Broken Again

**I think I'm about halfway through the story. Maybe even more by the way I'm planning things. **

**I've written another story. It's one shot… and I would really appreciate it if you checked it out. It's called 'Seeking Atonement'.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJ&O in case you didn't get that the first ten times.**

**R&R please! I won't threaten to stop the story, but reviews are always nice.**

**Rules are Made to be Broken… Again**

That night, we suited up for Capture the Flag. Once more, Chiron reminded us of the rules. "The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. The banner must be prominently displayed and only have two guards assigned to it. Guards must not stand within ten yards of the flag. All magic items are allow." At this, I thought of Aphrodite's scarf, hidden safely under the mattress. Not the best of hiding places, but it would do. "No killing and maiming allowed," Chiron finished.

The two teams assembled and headed off to their sides.

Annabeth called everyone up to hear the strategy. "Listen, we don't exactly have numbers on our side. But we do have skills. We'll keep up a communication link between us at all times. Can you manage that?"

The children of Iris – there were only two of them – nodded. "It won't be strong though," one of them said. She was a bit older than me and her hair was dyed in all sorts of crazy colours and she looked a little resentful. "We _are_ children of a minor goddess after all," she added. Annabeth shifted uncomfortably. There was still a major schism between the children of major gods and children of minor gods. "We'll still need you guys to make a rainbow, but the service is free of charge," the girl said.

"Make a rainbow… that would be sort of hard to do while we've got a battle going on," Travis said. The girl glared at him.

"The communication link should only be used to report. Don't use it too often," Annabeth said. I didn't see how that could help but Annabeth seemed to be trying really hard to make everyone feel like they had an important role. "Ashlyn," she addressed the leader of the Morpheus cabin, "try and make the guards drowsy. There are only two of them," the look on Ashlyn's face told me that two guards was still a handful, "and if we could… sedate them a little, it'll be easier to capture the flag."

Ashlyn rolled her eyes and muttered 'whatever'. She and her two siblings headed off. Annabeth looked like she wanted to say something, but she had the rest of the group to address. She told the Hecate cabin to create illusions to distract the rest of the team and the children of Eris to do what they did best: cause chaos. In the end, only they looked happy with their job.

Annabeth decided that there should be three teams. One to act as backup in case Hecate and Eris couldn't distract the team enough. Another to act as backup in case the main team – who would capture the flag – ran into complications.

Once again, I was put on defence. I wasn't happy about it. Was she set on making Capture the Flag the most boring camp experience ever? And last time I was on defence, it hadn't ended well.

"Come on!" I protested and then lowered my voice. "I'm getting better at swordfighting. Percy's been training me like crazy today. How am I supposed to use my skills?"

Annabeth was firm. "You'll have plenty of opportunities to get beaten up," she snapped. Our relationship had worsened after this morning. "Their target is the flag and you and the rest of defence are obstacles." She took the cap out and put it on her head. Immediately, there was ripple and I was looking at nothing but a shadow on the ground. Her voice came from somewhere in front of me, like she was walking away. "By the way, Nico's on the other team. They're going to make him shadow travel, I just know it."

I ran up to her shadow. "No, they won't. He nearly died last time – wait, correction. He _did_ die last time he shadow travelled."

"You think they really are going to care about that? They're going to take the easy way out." I saw ripples in the water and stalked back to the flag, which had been hoisted onto Zeus's Fist, or my nickname for it, Pile of Deer Droppings. But I never said that out loud.

"Ok, who's the other guard?" I asked the group of defence. They pointed to a Hephaestus kid. He had huge muscles like the rest of his siblings… that was pretty much what distinguished him from the average kid. He was polishing his sword. "Sure, just get in position. The game's starting soon." I twirled my sword around and waited for the conch horn to blow.

A minute later, it did, and I waited for people to start attacking. The Hephaestus kid wasn't talking and neither was I. Small talk wasn't something I did when I was irked. I heard a sound to my left and I gripped my sword tighter because I didn't have a shield this time. Armour would do. I worked better with two handed fighting. My dagger was hanging in a sheath by my side.

"They're coming," I told the boy. He nodded and I turned back to the forest just in time to see a small group come from _my_ side… what luck. There were three of them, all from Cabin Five. I cursed and dodged the first blow, sure they'd reach the flag. I was outnumbered.

I waited for the Hephaestus guy to come to my aid but as I blocked the next swing, I got a glimpse on what was happening on his side. He was fighting another group of three.

For quite some time, I sidestepped their blows and battered back at them. My mind was on overdrive working to analyze the movements of three people. I needed to cut their numbers down and gritted my teeth. _Okay, I won't like this but…_ I stabbed the sword through a guy's sandal and he fell down howling. _Sucker_. Greek armour was awesome and everything, but _sandals_? Hello, getting stabbed on your foot was pretty painful too. Guess the makers of Greek armour overlooked that. "Get this guy in jail! Someone!" I shouted towards where I figured one group of defence was. The opposing team had much more campers in numbers so I doubted anyone would get to. A demigod from the Asclepius cabin appeared from the forest and dragged the guy off to Chiron, who was acting as medic.

Two left. I was getting tired, and although they were acting aggressive, for some reason, they didn't seem to want to get the flag. More like they wanted to keep me busy, to distract me. From what?

I saw my answer when a sword flashed in the forest. I kicked a guy down and parried a strike from the third person. My mind kept tabs on the sword flashing in the forest. That's what ADHD does for you.

The sword moved around in a circle… towards the back of Zeus Fist. I saw one more flash, and then it disappeared from my line of vision. They were taking the flag. Clever. Groups of campers would distract the defence while the group actually taking the flag would creep through our defences. Normally, that idea would be crazy because of the amount of people required, but they had the numbers.

I switched hands so the sword was in my left hand and knocked the sword out of his hand. He looked surprised. I smirked and disarmed the next person. This was a trick I'd been working to perfect since I started swordfighting with Percy. As it turned out, I was ambidextrous… but not for writing. Not many people could change their sword from hand to hand like that.

I swiped the swords and pointed at their chests. "Scram," I ordered and dug the point in. They scowled and backed into the forest. I stuck the swords in the sheaths by my side. I felt a little foolish, but I wasn't going to provide the enemy with extra weapons.

I needed to communicate to Annabeth so I mentally reached out towards the river. I didn't work with fresh water as well as salt water, but the ocean was too far away. I imagined water droplets rising out of the water into mist, and coming towards me. There was some tug in my gut and I smiled, because that meant that I was successful. Percy had showed me how to summon my powers and I'd been practicing. I stayed in the clearing a little longer. The forest covered up the sunlight, and I needed sunlight for rainbows. The sun's angle was just right…

Mist met the rays of light and I said out loud, trying to ignore the sounds of fighting behind me, "Annabeth Chase… wherever she is." The mist shimmered and revealed the blond girl hiding in the shadows. She did a little jump when she saw my face. "I think I found the group with Nico," I said. "I need reinforcements."

Annabeth blinked. "I don't know if we can spare any. Reports are coming in everywhere. We're outnumbered." She scowled.

This was true. I hesitated. "Okay, then I'm going in alone."

Annabeth shook her head. "Lena, just –" Then she screamed and fell away from my line of vision. The communication link broke and then I was staring at a tree once more.

I didn't like the sound of the scream but it wasn't like I could run to the other side to help her. She should have people helping her… although it looked like she was alone in the vision.

I ran into the forest, trying to figure out where Nico's group was. They must be behind Zeus' Fist by now. I cut through the forest, wandering from the path, until I could see light ahead of me. I thought about bursting into the clearing, thereby making a dramatic entrance. But not only was that stupid, but it was also, well I guess, stupid.

_Stealth_, I thought and shuffled around until I could get a clear view of the three people in the clearing. Nico was one of them. He was climbing the pile of rocks carefully because if he slipped, he would fall and crack his spine. I estimated he was about a quarter of the way up. Annabeth had been right. _Almost always is_, I thought and gently pushed on a branch so I could see the other two faces. Mark, and Cailey from the Apollo Cabin. An odd grouping. Cailey and Mark looked like they'd just finished arguing and there was tension in the air. They weren't looking at each other but rather opposite directions. Mark was looking towards the other side of the forest. He occasionally turned around as if he thought Cailey wasn't doing her job. Cailey was facing me. I stepped back and – like in all clichéd movies and books – a branch snapped.

Cailey scanned the trees. She took out an arrow from her quiver and strung it.

"Heard something?" Mark asked. She ignored him.

I crouched in the shadows, waiting for her to lower her bow, or at least look away. She didn't. I stifled a groan. My thighs were killing me. From the time I'd spent with Cailey, I knew that she was a vigilant person.

So I took my chances and nervously looked up at Nico – who was at the halfway point – and walked into the clearing as nonchalantly as I could.

Cailey hadn't expected that. "Lena?" she asked.

Nico, who was reaching out to a rock for a handhold, looked down. "Lena?" he repeated and lost his grip. For a dangerous second, rocks tumbled down and Nico nearly went with them. His arms flailed for balance and then he found a rock to clutch onto.

Cailey aimed uncertainly. Loyalty was a big part of her, and she was debating. Mark, on the other hand, was telling her to hurry up and chop me into pieces. I took out my dagger. "Nico, come down," I said. There was no way I could engage in combat with him on the pile of deer droppings. On the other hand, I couldn't tip the rocks over and crack his skull.

"You won't," he said and I saw his expression change into something like a smile. "You know, I heard that you –"

"I was holding Aphrodite's scarf," I rolled my eyes. "No one's in their right mind when they're holding Aphrodite's scarf." I held up my dagger and threw it towards the pile of rocks. Nico almost let go again but stopped when he realized my throw wasn't aimed at him. I crossed my fingers, hoping it would hit the mark. The dagger cut into the flag pole and it fell right at my feet. I reached down to pick it up and someone kicked me from behind.

"That's it," Mark muttered and took out his sword. I grabbed the flag, got up, and ran as fast as I could toward the cover of the forest just as Travis and Connor arrived.

"Reinforcements!" They called to me. Connor frowned. "Lena, what in Hades are you doing?" He ripped his gaze from me to Mark as he started beating up the younger Stoll brother. I heard Nico trying to get down, sliding dangerously on the rocks.

I didn't know what I was doing. I was pretty sure pulling off this trick was breaking the rules though. Or, probably not fair. _All guards must not stand within 10 feet of the flag._ I looked at the flag in my hands. Well, whoops.

I could hear someone crashing in the trees behind me. Both of us were making no effort to move silently. Because I'd seen Mark fighting Travis and Connor and Nico still stuck on the rocks, I figured it was Cailey. I sidestepped into the trees and held my breath silently, waiting for her to pass by me.

She paused right in front of me, only a few feet from where I was hiding. I took a silent breath to calm my heart. Her eyes swept through the dense foliage and I swore she was looking right at me. Then she started walking again.

I waited until she was far away enough and then propped the flag against the tree. That would take them some time to find.

Back at the clearing in front of Zeus's fist, the Hephaestus guy had noticed the flag had gone missing. "What the –" he said and then pushed a guy to the ground. Probably thinking the other team had gotten the flag, he ran off to chase them.

"Wait!" I shouted and the conch horn blew, signalling the end of the game.

Everyone gathered at the river. Annabeth was holding the flag – now silver with an owl on it. The other team gathered, looking confused, sleepy, or mad. Chiron walked – no, clopped over to Annabeth and asked her something quietly. She answered and I watched them talk with an uneasy feeling in my gut.

Nico arrived with skinned knees and a bad bruise on his elbow. Travis and Connor looked downright murderous. Their helmets were dented. Mark whistled cheerfully, probably happy he'd gotten his dosage of doing sadistic actions. Cailey stumbled out of the forest with twigs and leaves in her brown hair.

"You cheated," Nico accused.

"In real life, there are no rules," I shot back. Capture the Flag was supposed to prepare us for the real world. And next time a monster challenged you, you couldn't just read off a bunch of rules before you fight to the death, or at least, fight to the part when monsters explode into yellow powder because they couldn't really die.

Nico sighed. He took out something from his sheath and handed it to me. My dagger.

"Blue team wins," Chiron said. "And by the way, Elena, come with me." He started walking away so I followed, wishing I could've taken off the sweaty Greek armour. The three swords and my dagger hung at my side. I felt ridiculous, but I didn't want to be disrespectful.

"If it's about how I cheated," which it most definitely was, "I technically did _not_ cheat," I said. "'Guards are not permitted to stand within 10 feet of the flag,' that was the rule. Or something like that. I was never standing next to the flag… I was running with it, so really I didn't cheat, just had a…" I raked my brain, "a unique strategy on how to do things. And if I was cheating, well rules are made to be broken. Again and again."

Chiron looked blankly down at me. "You cheated?" he asked, which suggested two things: he wasn't an all-knowing centaur like I perceived him to be. And he was talking about something other than the game.

"What were you talking about?" I asked, feeling a bit weak.

"I suppose I can't lecture you on cheating," Chiron said to himself. "Lessons just go through one ear and out through the other for you." He looked seriously at me. "Do you have Aphrodite's scarf?"

"Aph-Aphrodite's scarf?" I stammered. Huh. Maybe he was an all-knowing centaur. How else would he know that I had been the one to take it?

"You took a pink scarf," he said patiently, "From the attic of the Big House."

"That scarf," I sighed. "Okay, I have it. What do you want me to do with it? Go to Mount Olympus and return it?"

The centaur led me to the Big House. "No, I'd say that's rather dramatic. Just arrange for a meeting and return it." He went up the front porch steps. I didn't walk after him. "The weekend would be a good time. Aphrodite likes to reclaim her belongings as soon as she can."

"Really," I asked sarcastically but he was already in the farmhouse. "Schedule a meeting with a goddess… And how exactly am I going to do that? Pray to her at dinner? Or –"

"Message for Elena Evans," said the man in front of me. I looked up from my Greek sandals.

"Hi… Lord…" I really sucked at titles. They should be teaching a course at Camp Half-Blood on how to greet gods. "Lord Hermes." I cleared my throat. "Is it from my parents?"

He handed me an envelope. The address and name were typed again. I sighed. "Can I have a pen?" I asked. "Please?"

Hermes took one out and handed it to me. I didn't say anything about the snakes squirming around the pen and scribbled the words _Reply to Sender_ on the envelope. _Angry mood,_ a snake hissed. I'd pressed the pen tip so hard the ink was going through the envelope. "Thanks." I dropped it in his hands, glad to stop touching the snakes.

He looked at my weapons. "Armed and dangerous, aren't you. I'll send this one back, and before I go, I have one more message for you." _And you have 1768 unopened messages,_ the second snake hissed. He took out another envelope. It was the subtlest shade of pink and I took it cautiously.

Love magic coursed through my fingers and fiddled with my mind. I took a slow breath to clear any unwanted thoughts out of my mind and put the envelope in my pocket. "Thanks. I'll see you around?"

Hermes answered by radiating golden light. I shielded my eyes until I knew he was gone – to Olympus, or to deliver another letter, I didn't know. _A simple sure would've been fine_. I kicked off my sandals and removed my helmet and sat on a bench. My fingers found the envelope and took it out. For a second I stared at it. Then I flipped it over and ripped it open.

The message was short.

_Gucci, Fifth Avenue_

_Sunday, 3 PM_

_XOXO_

**liked it? hated it? please tell me what you think.**

**I don't know if I'll be updating Sunday. Weekends are always weird for me. I'll be busy tonight, for my dad's birthday dinner, and busy next week too, planning my birthday party... my actual birthday's on the 24th to those curious. xP I'll try and stick to the schedule. Most likely, I will. But once school starts in September, updating might be a once or twice a week kind of thing.**

**Until next time! ~^^~**


	12. In Real Life

**Two days until my birthday… so excited! Take a stab at how old I am turning.**

**So here it is… chapter 12 as promised! It's a filler chapter though. Thank you to those who reviewed. :D BTW, no, Nico and Lena will not randomly get together… She isn't a Mary Sue.**

**Read and review, as always, and also, as always…**

**Disclaimer: My name started with an F, not an R last time I checked…**

**In Real Life…**

"So I'm supposed to meet Aphrodite on tomorrow," I said, "To return a scarf that I sort of planned on using without her permission. Tell me what she's like again?" If there were any chances on getting fried, I wanted to know.

Percy chewed on his cereal. "I don't think I can describe her without making the sky thunder," he said. "But she's, um, pretty."

"Don't let Annabeth hear you say that," I advised him. "Pretty. Vain? Is she one of those gods who take offence in words easily?"

He shrugged and sipped his milk. I tapped the spoon against the bowl impatiently. Finally, he swallowed and replied. "She's really into love. _Really_ into it."

"That's helpful too," I said dryly. "Remind me. Why can't she come to camp like last time? And last time I heard she was furious. So that probably means she'll evaporate me on the spot."

"Being a demigod is never easy."

"Hell no it isn't," I grumbled and stabbed my scrambled eggs with my fork. "Under the gods' whim all the time… and then getting punished or killed for even existing because our _dad_ made the mistake!" Thunder. How many times had it thundered since I arrived?

"You should tell Chiron. In fact, you should've told Chiron once Hermes gave the invitation to you," Percy said.

"I know, but…" Percy really liked Chiron. Tell you the truth, Chiron, was just a centaur who tried teaching me how to shoot and arrow without it going into a camper's heart. I wasn't ready to trust him yet.

"But what?"

"Never mind. You know what? You're right. I'll head over to the Big House after breakfast."

~0~

"She's contacted you?" Chiron asked me. I took out the small placard and tried to ignore the scent of fresh roses, or mountain laurel – I never really could figure the scent out. Chiron looked over the small card and gave it back to me. "Who gave you this?"

"Mr…. Hermes. Hermes did." Chiron looked totally confused. "He's like my personal mailman or something, because he's supposed to be watching me," I explained. "Because, you know, half the gods up there," I waved above my head, "wants me dead."

Chiron sighed. "I assume you know all about it."

I nodded. "Yep." _Despite the fact you didn't want me to know_.

"I will get Argus to drive you as far as the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan," he said. "You'll have to take it over from there."

"How will I get back?"

"Just take a bus back to Long Island," Chiron said. "Now I need you to pick two campers to come along with you to Manhattan." He looked at me expectantly. I opened my mouth to speak but found it dry.

"Two – Two campers?" I asked. "Isn't that only for quests? I'm not going on a quest, am I?" One Hydra was okay, but I'd heard that quests were extremely hard and half the people didn't come back alive.

Chiron laughed and I felt better. "No, but whenever you go outside of Camp Half-Blood, we prefer you to have friends with you in case you run into… unpleasant company." I shivered, thinking of the Cyclops tearing down the front door. Then scowled when I remembered the bill that had come for me. Then frowned. So technically I wasn't going on a quest but I still had to watch out for monsters.

"Two campers?" I asked again. He nodded. "Okay, then…" I pulled up a few names. Percy? Nah, asking your brother to come with you on a mission, and then having him nag to you every step of the way… Annabeth? Nope, we were still cold. I'd pulled up the courage to ask her this morning why she'd screamed last night while we were using the communication link. She just replied that Percy had pulled a prank and then went back to some architectural sketch she was drawing. Nico was an obvious choice, but I couldn't even look at him without having some blush creep onto my cheeks. _I didn't like him_, and the blushing always gave him the wrong idea. Whatever. If his ego didn't start inflating, then he'd have to do. There was one more vacancy. The only person I really knew and really felt comfortable asking on a mission was Cailey. Somehow, our opposite personalities worked well with each other.

"Nico di Angelo and Cailey Calandra," I said. "Cabins Thirteen and Seven."

"I will send someone to fetch them." He left the room for a second. I dug my fingers into the sharp edges of the small placard, trying to know what to expect by reading the message over and over again. My dyslexia kicked up, switching the letters around so much I thought I was reading a foreign language, but the message was already in my head.

So she wanted me at Gucci. Good, right? I mean she couldn't leave three dead corpses in an expensive store like Gucci… could she? She was a goddess, and they did whatever they wanted to. But still… 3pm was when all the shoppers came out onto Fifth Avenue to shop after sleeping in late. Or maybe she wanted to meet at 3pm because she also needed her beauty sleep. The point was, it was a busy time. She couldn't just _murder_ us in front of the many people passing in front of the store. And they always looked into the Gucci store, out of curiosity. She had nothing to hide.

_No_, I countered. The mist would hide it for her. She was a goddess, and they did whatever they wanted to.

Nico and Cailey walked in. Chiron shut the door behind them and waited for them to sit down. I back to the placard and loosened my grip, noticing the small sharp dents the corners had made on my fingers.

"As a recap, Elena asked you two to accompany her to Manhattan to return a scarf belonging to the goddess Aphrodite," Chiron said. "If you accept, we leave tomorrow morning."

"Aphrodite?" Cailey asked. "You mean the Aphrodite who suddenly appeared in the Mess Hall demanding her scarf back?"

"Yeah," I answered for Chiron. "I, um, sort of borrowed the scarf and now she wants it back."

"You have it, right?" she asked. I nodded. "Can I see it?"

I kicked a bag from under my chair and took the scarf out gingerly, using the least skin contact possible. "Don't try it on. It makes you feel drunk." Not that I knew what feeling drunk felt like, but I had a pretty good idea of it.

She picked it up gently and ran it through her fingers. I waited for her to start spewing out romantic poetry but she didn't. "Why did you take it?" she asked.

I glanced sideways at Nico. He hadn't spoken at all but the tiniest of smiles told me he knew. "I took it, because I was pulling a prank with Travis and Connor." There. _Watch that smile turn upside down_. If he was going to keep torturing me like that, then I'd do the same to him. "Unfortunately, now she wants it back even though it's been in the attic for years."

Cailey dropped the scarf back onto the table. "I'll do it. It'll be a good time to visit the city."

Chiron started to give out a warning. "I must warn you to focus on your mission –"

Cailey interrupted. "I know, I'm just trying to think positive." Did that mean she thought we _were_ going to get blasted into pieces?

"Nico?" Chiron prompted.

"I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Aphrodite," Nico said, "But whatever. I'm in."

Chiron clapped his hands together. "Good. Now that we've got that settled, I suggest you fit as much training as you can into the remainder of the morning and the afternoon."

~0~

Everyone seemed to think that just because I was returning something to a goddess, I was going on a quest.

"Good luck," Travis said gravely.

"You're going to need it," added Connor.

"I'm not going to die!" I huffed and they broke into laughter.

"Just joking!"

"But seriously, don't die."

The girls from the Demeter cabin passed by us that moment and Connor pushed Travis gently. "There goes your girlfriend," he said in the same grave tone Travis used to greet me. "Katie Gar –" Travis lifted his hand and Connor sprinted away, forgetting all about me.

Cailey took Nico and I to the Archery range after I accepted her offer to tutor me in shooting arrows. Nico decided to come because he had 'nothing to do'. We walked there together where the rest of her cabin was. I picked out a bow and arrow and stood in front of a target far away from the others. I wouldn't hit anyone if they were far away from me… right?

"Shoot an arrow for me," Cailey said. I raised the bow and tried to keep my arm from shaking too much. The arrow went down on the ground. "You're holding it wrong," she said. She corrected my grip.

"I thought Chiron told me to –"

"You haven't been listening, then," she suggested. "Bring your arm up… pull back to… stop. Now let go." The arrow flew and hit right below the target. I palmed my face. "No, keep going, you're doing better," she said. I doubted that I really was and tried again. Nico watched the arrow stab itself into the dirt with silent amusement.

"Lena!" someone called from across the archery range. Rachel. She walked over to our target. "Hi Cailey. I heard you guys are going on a –"

"Not a quest," I hurriedly said before she could make the same mistake as Travis and Connor. "A… meeting."

"Sure," Rachel said. "Whatever you call it."

"Have any prophecies for us?" Nico asked wryly.

Rachel held up her hands like telling us to wait, and widened her eyes. I held my breath. She laughed. "None. Just watch out for monsters." She winked and walked away.

"No prophecy. Good," I muttered and raised the bow quickly. Nico ducked out of the way.

"Watch where you're pointing that thing!" he exclaimed. I stuck my tongue out at him. "Do you want to shoot me?"

"Tempting… but no," I said. "You were in the way." He scowled.

After about twenty arrows, Cailey decided that I sucked so much at archery it was pointless for me to practice. Well, she didn't say it out loud, but anyone watching me would've thought that. I suggested we go off and do some swordfighting. A much more useful skill for me than archery. Then again, if I happened to have a bow and arrow in my hand and a monster was just about to kill me, all I'd have to do is aim at a tree or some rock on the ground and I'd hit the monster instead.

We headed to the armoury and I was picking up a helmet when Cailey stopped me. "I don't think we should practice with armour," she said. I stared at her. In the beginning, sure, we didn't suit up in full body armour but we usually had a chest plate. If it weren't for that, I'd be dead five times over. There were scratches on the chest plate I usually used to prove that. Nico and I waited for her to explain. "In the mortal world it's not like we can go wearing armour all the time," Cailey said.

"Why not?" I asked. The Mist could disguise it as something other than what it actually was.

"First of all, it'll look weird."

"You sound like the girls in Cabin Ten," Nico muttered. Cailey glared and he stopped speaking.

"Second of all, it's bulky and heavy. If we're being chased by monsters, do you really want heavy armour to weigh you down?" _That heavy armour can save your life_, I thought, but she had a point.

I dropped the helmet. "Okay. Let's move on to the swords." Cailey took out her own. Nico broke out some short black blade that didn't look like celestial bronze. I pointed at it. "What's that?"

"Stygian iron," he said. "Cooled in River Styx."

"Nice blade," I said kind of faintly because that was one weapon I didn't want being near to. "Well the problem with me is not one sword is balanced well so you're going to have to go easy on me. Plus I'm new, remember?" Sure I was a pretty good swordsman – swordsgirl? – but experience was a big part in skill.

"You've been here for two and a half weeks and you managed to kill the Hydra, disarm two people from Cabin Five in Capture the Flag yesterday, and beat Percy once in swordfighting," Cailey listed off patiently.

"Once. And he was going easy on me, okay?" I had been in a grouchy mood but I didn't tell that to them. He'd gone easy because no one wanted to face the wrath of Lena… or because we were siblings and he didn't like pissing off his siblings. Something like that. "I really need a blade by tomorrow… I wonder if Hephaestus's cabin's done yet."

And as if I summoned him by saying those words, Aidan – the Hephaestus guard from last night – stuck his head in the armoury. I stumbled backwards into a pile of Greek smelly sandals from the coincidence and tried not to gawk. He looked down at me. "Your sword is ready," he said and handed it to me. "

I took it eagerly. The hilt was comfortable and wrapped in leather. The blade was nice and shining with the gleam that said it was made of celestial bronze. It was far from Percy's Riptide, but I was happy to find the sword was balanced. "Thank you!" I said. He nodded, all business like.

"It doesn't transform into a pen or anything, but we've altered the Mist around it to make it look like a baseball bat," Aidan explained. I thanked him again and he left.

"They're really good with forging stuff," Cailey said and compared the two swords. "They gave me mine just three days ago."

I would've sat there battering at flies all day long but Nico reminded us we had to train. We walked into the swordfighting arena and looked for a dummy to practice on. None. Cabin Five was happily hacking them into pieces and it seemed they couldn't spare one for our use. "Against each other?" I suggested. "You guys first."

Cailey smiled and Nico rolled his eyes. "Come on," I pressed. They faced each other and began to spar back and forth. Cailey wasn't aggressive. She was just blocking Nico's attacks as fast as she could. Percy's advice came back into my head. _If you're always on defence, the only strategy that'll work is if you tire your opponent out, but you'll also be tiring yourself out. _I waited for Cailey to get tired and throw her sword to the ground, but she kept going steadily. She stepped back each time to ward off the blow but didn't expect it when Nico pretended to stab and knocked the blade out of her hand. He caught it and pressed the tip on her throat.

"Not bad," Cailey said. "I'm not surprised actually. I can't swordfight."

"You were pretty good," I said. "Just… not aggressive." She looked like she knew what I was talking about and helped me up to my feet.

"Ready Lena?" Nico asked.

"Yeah, I guess," I responded and kept my eyes glued to his blade. _Note to self. Never ever touch that thing_. We started thwacking swords. Whenever his blade got too close to my own skin, I whacked it away or blocked it, hoping to disarm him, but his grip was tight and I never managed to get it to fall out of his hand. "Giving up?" I asked after five minutes.

"Don't think so," he responded and parried a series of swipes and jabs. I readjusted my grip and pressed down on his blade to force it out of his hand. He pushed back and our swords pressed against each other until I felt something sweep under me and trip me.

"Whoa!" I shouted and I landed on my back, bruising my shoulder blade and my elbow. "What was that?"

He pointed the sharp tip down at me. I went cross-eyed. "In real life, there are no rules," he quoted.

"The way you remembered my exact words scares me," I replied. "Cailey, do you have water?"

"No water breaks in real life," Nico smirked.

"In my world, there are." I sipped from a canteen. The water was too warm for my liking. I looked up and him and wondered whether or not to spit at his face but it was more likely that gravity would act first and I'd have warm water all over my face. I swallowed.

"Done for now?" Nico asked. The conch horn blew to signal lunch.

"Guess so," I said. "Let's go."

For the rest of the day, we trained, especially in swordfighting. I had people wish good luck to us all day which made me more anxious and twist that knot in my stomach into something so complicated I wouldn't have bothered to undo it. Cabin Ten sobbed all over me and hugged me tight like we'd been best buds and now I was going to die. "Bring me a handbag," Callista whispered in my ear as I suffered through another hug. What, I get an invitation from her mother and suddenly we were BFFs?

"Sure, BFF," I replied dryly, but I don't think she heard my tone. The best thing about sarcasm was you could insult an idiot and they would never know.

Then it was dinner time, and then the campfire. Finally, lights out and I was staring at the roof, wondering if Nico and Cailey couldn't sleep either.

**Like it? Hate it? Please comment! (Review button right below this author's note for those who don't know.)**

**Until next time! ~^^~**


	13. The Doggy With the Fiery Breath

_**Happy birthday to me… now I'm _teen…**_** xP there's a present waiting to be opened on the table… but I'm afraid to open it. o.o**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or the Olympians. Or any of the characters in the series for that matter.**

**Read and review! (Each review's like a present for me. :3) and thanks to those who reviewed!**

**The Doggy with the Fiery Breath**

The next morning, I woke up an hour before my earliest time I could wake up and still function normally. For a second, my eyes were wide open and I was struggling to recount my dream. Stupid mind. The things you need to remember the most are the things you never remember in the end. I wasn't even sure why I needed to remember my dream… I mean, demigod dreams were usually important but I still had my normal wacko dreams too.

Percy was snoring loudly across the cabin. I tried to concentrate… and there it was. The key words. _Chaos beneath the calm_. Just like Rachel's mini weather report. I was dreaming about drowning again, and the words sure applied to it. How romantic.

Now the mystery was solved and I needed to fall back asleep again. I mean, hello. I had a quest… er mission… but falling asleep always took me forever, especially after waking up before I'm used to. I slipped out between the covers quietly, threw on some clothes, and put on my shoes. Then I walked out into the fresh air.

The air was cool and… well, fresh, like mountain air at dawn. The campfire was crackling lazily, sending small wisps of smoke into the air. For once, the camp was silent, and tranquil.

I took the path to the beach, cutting through the forest, also unnaturally quiet. I heard the ocean first, and then the trees cleared, allowing me a clear view of the waves. They hit the beach and then swept away, allowing the next waves to wash over them. Constant. Repetitive. And yet, the rhythm was what reassured me. I perched on a rock, reliving the time the Hydra came. Definitely not a pleasant experience, but hey, Poseidon claimed me because of that.

The horizon was blurred by the fog hanging in the air. The sky was gray, but an anticipating gray, waiting for the dawn to come and brighten the sky up.

My moment of 'Zen' – or at least, as close to Zen as I could get – was interrupted when loud footsteps came crashing from the forest. I turned around to see Nico coming out of the trees, looking sleepy and like someone had dragged him out of bed too soon. He rubbed his eyes. "Chiron wants to see you," he yawned.

"How did you find me here? I never come here," I said.

"Figuring you're the daughter of Poseidon and all…" he said.

"I'm no Daddy's girl. And next time I don't know where you are, I'll just head to the nearest graveyard," I snapped, irritated. Poseidon made no attempt to contact me, ever, and I didn't like that at all.

Nico made a face.

I turned back to the sea and waited. "Okay, sorry. That was cruel."

"Let's go to the Big House," Nico said with no expression whatsoever. He walked away without waiting for me. I kept my distance just in case some other insult slipped out from my lips. I really needed to stop impulsively saying whatever was on my mind…

"What does Chiron need us for?" I asked after an uncomfortable silence. Nico looked up from the ground.

"Just to see if we're all set. Cailey's there too."

"I'm far from prepared," I said. "I need money, and drachma…" my voice trailed off. _And courage_. Seeing the Hydra scared me a hell lot, but at least I took the initiative to kill it. But this wasn't something I signed up for.

"Well then get them now. Chiron wants us to leave in an hour."

~0~

After a glance at Percy's watch, I discovered it was seven in the morning. Hmm. Maybe I hadn't got up as early as I guessed. My stomach rumbled. I was hoping for at least breakfast before we left. I grabbed a handful of drachma from the fountain and put it in a small plastic bag. It was probably more than enough but I wasn't taking chances. Then I took out a few bills from Percy's wallet.

_I owe you_, I scribbled on a piece of paper and hoped that would suffice. Then I left the cabin, dropping my dagger in its sheath and swinging the sword behind me.

~0~

"Everyone set?" Chiron asked us. I tugged at my baseball hat and looked down at the long jersey I was wearing. We were supposed to disguise ourselves into normal mortals, and that was exactly what I did. The jersey and hat were from the store. Now I looked like a normal thirteen year old girl who liked baseball. I smoothed my shorts out to make sure it didn't look like I had a dagger strapped to my thigh, which of course it was.

"Yeah," I said.

"Have everything you need?"

I pulled out the scarf from my pocket. As soon as we get into the van, I'd stuff it into Nico's backpack where our money was. And that was exactly what I did. I took the window seat, and Nico got squashed beside me before he could protest, Cailey taking the seat on right. Chiron told us to IM him as soon as we finished and we shut the van door. Cailey waved goodbye even though the windows were tinted and all of us watched Chiron's horse figure disappear, covered up by the thick fog. It started to rain just then. No. Correction. It had started raining before we left, but now that we were outside the camp boundaries, the rain was free to attack us.

"Hopefully the weather will be nicer once we get there," Cailey said. Always the optimist. I, however, was being pessimistic.

"Don't think so with those clouds." I peered outside at the dark gray sky. The sun must've already risen but the rays weren't shining through. Was this natural or was Zeus really pissed?

Nico glanced nervously at the clouds. "We should've brought an umbrella," he said. "It's pouring." He wasn't lying. Buckets of rain were pouring down and I could barely make out the trees lining up the highway. "We'll be soaked within seconds." He looked at me. "Or rather, Cailey and I will."

I frowned at him. "Sure, I don't get wet when I don't want to, but how strange will it look if I'm the only dry person on 42nd Street?" He meant it as an insult but I really didn't care at that point.

Cailey wasn't listening. She was staring outside the window and tapping her finger against her chin like she was figuring something out. If you didn't know any better, you would've thought she was a daughter of Athena, minus the blond curls. Out of the three of us, she was probably the most logical thinker. Her bow and quiver of arrows disguised as a backpack, was sitting on her lap.

The three of us fell silent. It felt wrong, and really awkward. I didn't want to make conversation, Nico didn't, and Cailey's mind just wasn't here. Argus sat at the front, his one hundred eyes blinking silently at random times in rapid succession. Or I imagined it to be so, because I was sitting behind the driver's seat. I stared at the windshield wipers steadily pushing raindrops off the window while absently tugging on the hair band on my wrist. The wipers reminded me of the patterns of the ocean. And that was when I realized how exhausted I was from not getting enough sleep and fell asleep to the rhythm of the wipers.

~0~

It was a car honk that woke me up. No, it actually woke me half up so I was half in dreamland and half in the real world. Following that honk was a series of other honks from different cars. Now that actually woke me up. _Ah, good to be back in Manhattan_. I kept my eyes closed because despite the nap I'd just taken, I was still tired.

Voices talked next to me.

"Wake her up," Cailey whispered.

"No I'm not."

"You're closest. What's wrong?"

By the silence, I inferred he was glowering. "Nothing."

Cailey sighed. "Whatever went on between you two, break it up. The last thing we need is for you guys to be arguing when we're supposed to be watching each other's backs – not stabbing each other's backs with glares. Wake her up."

"I'm up," I said and opened my eyes to see the back of Argus's seat. "Where are we?"

"Almost at 42nd," Cailey said. "That's where the Port Authority Bus Terminal is, right? I've never been in New York City before."

I looked at her. "Really? Where do you come from?"

"Buffalo," she said. "I think I'm the only demigod there."

"Pretty close to Canada," Nico commented.

"Eh," I added quietly. Cailey laughed and Nico cracked a smile before remembering he was supposed to be mad at me and the smile dropped off his face. I went back to looking out the window, at the skyscrapers. I couldn't see the tips of the buildings from here. Then we were going past the bright billboards of Times Square and I could see Cailey gawking at the whole sense of it all.

"It's so crowded," Cailey said. "And… wow. Bright." She made a face. "I'm getting a headache."

"Welcome to the life of a Yankee," I replied. "We should be there soon." We were pretty close to the station. The traffic wasn't bad either, well, not as bad as the weekdays. The first time I ditched class, I nearly got run over by a car twice.

We pulled up next to the station. Argus silently unlocked the doors. "Thanks!" Cailey said and waved goodbye to him. Argus smiled just the tiniest bit.

"Come on, move, we're blocking traffic," Nico said. Cailey rolled her eyes and stepped out into the rain, jogging for cover.

I shut the door and watched the van pull away. The car next to me beeped. I stuck up my finger and walked towards the building. I caught up with Nico and Cailey examining a map.

"You know where Gucci is?" Nico asked. "We should buy a map. I know I live here, but I've stayed away from 5th Avenue." He was holding up a map. The cashier kept an eye on us in case we decided to shoplift it.

"No need, I know where it is," I said and put the map back. "Come on." They stayed, waiting for me to explain. I didn't feel like it, but I did anyway. "Okay, my family is rich. And my mom likes shopping on Fifth Avenue. Sometimes she tried taking me along, to become a 'woman'. Torture sessions. Now can we go?" I fiddled with the hair band on my wrist, a sign that I was uncomfortable. A habit I'd tried to break a long time ago by not wearing hair bands. But my hair was growing long and unless I wanted to have some camper chop off my hair with a sword, I kept a hair band around.

Cailey and Nico had odd expressions on their faces, like pity. I felt my face heat up. "_Come on_," I stressed. "I survived, didn't I? Let's get breakfast. I'm starving. Do you have the time?"

Cailey looked down at her wrist. "Eleven. How about lunch? It's close enough to noon."

"Brunch," Nico said. "No normal person eats breakfast and lunch on weekends. Especially Sunday."

"Well we aren't normal, are we?" I replied and took off my soaking wet cap to reveal my sort of soaking wet hair. They followed me until we found a nice little bakery with plenty of goods to fill our stomachs for now. The woman at the counter looked down at my sword. I wondered if the Mist was working and was relieved when she asked me if I played baseball.

"She loves baseball," Nico said. "But she's horrible at it."

I bumped him. "Shut up." I took the bag filled with three warm croissants and thanked the lady. We found a place to seat and eat. I handed them their croissants. "So, should we walk there? It's only half and hour –"

"On a nice day," Nico interrupted with food in his mouth and then swallowed. "It's still raining."

"But we have like four hours until we have to meet Aph – our aunt Froddy." I didn't know how that name came out, and judging by Nico and Cailey's looks, neither did they. "Our aunt Froddy," I repeated, slower, and resisted the temptation to laugh because I was so close to getting on her good side again. Although calling her that name probably wrecked my chances, if she was listening. "Um. Our aunt."

"Why not we take the subway there, find an actual place to eat, and then meet… our Aunt?" Cailey said.

I sighed. "Just go with the flow I guess." I finished the croissant and threw the bag in the garbage. "You have everything?"

Nico took the bag off his shoulder and unzipped it. He peered inside. "Everything still here. Don't worry. We've got our ambrosia and nectar… the scarf, and your s – pointy sticks should be with you."

"Pointy sticks," I said wryly and snickered. "Check. Let's go."

The subway ride there was quiet. I kept thinking that sometime soon, a person would come up and ask if that sword was a relic, but no one did. I propped my sword up against a seat and tied my hair up because my wrist was starting to feel raw after all that rubbing. Cailey was looking half asleep, and her head was leaning on the back of the seat. Nico stared at an ad for a zoo above me though I had a feeling he stopped seeing it after the first five seconds.

"Our stop," I said. I was slowly adjusting back into city life and getting more comfortable in the city I grew up in. We left the train behind us and brushed past the tourists on the platform.

It was still raining when we ascended to the normal level. So we found a restaurant, ate (Nico wasn't eating. He was just stabbing his salad repeatedly), and looked for something to do for the next few hours.

~0~

After some debate, we decided to show Cailey Central Park although it was raining. Not many people were there and we were the only kids around. We stuck to the cover of the trees and tried to ignore the stares strangers were giving us. I mean, think of this: three kids, sopping wet, without an umbrella, in the middle of Central Park and in no rush to get home. Wouldn't that seem a little suspicious? Especially since Nico was wearing an 'I Heart NYC' shirt but he was scowling at everything around him.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "You hate Central Park or what? You look like some kid who hates everything for no reason." Harsh, but true.

Nico rearranged his expression into a happy one – and it totally didn't suit him. "How about that?" I laughed and he went back to scowling.

Cailey put folded her arms against the fence and leaned on it, staring at the lake. "A park in the middle of the city. You know, just a minute ago, I forgot I was in New York City." She was looking a little sad, maybe homesick.

Nico and I let her have her moment and sat on a bench a little distance away. "So where do you stay for most of the year?" I asked. "You board at a school or what?"

"Goode High," he said. "Or at least, I went to Goode High before I got expelled. Monster attack," he explained. "Laistrygonians showed up in gym class. They got Percy expelled before at some other school. So I just went back to camp after that. What about you?"

"I haven't been at school for the whole day in ages," I confessed. "But for now, before they expel me for ditching, I'm going to some public school downtown. Don't ask me for the name, I didn't even bother remembering it." I reached for my wrist before remembering the hair band was holding my hair up. I'd told no one details about my life besides Percy, and I had to be open. "I bet you I've been kicked out of my school than Percy has."

Cailey's voice floated over to us. "Ma'am… I don't know where the Empire State Building is… no, I'm sure of it… I'm not from here." Nico and I looked up. Her hand was up to her shoulder like any second soon she was about to whip her bow out and string an arrow to aim at someone's heart. Her body was rigid and I detected shaking in her voice that wasn't there before.

"Who's that lady standing next to her?" I asked Nico. She was extremely fat, and probably just as ugly too. Her Chihuahua barked next to her. Cailey leaned against the fence, as far as away as she could get. "Cailey?"

The woman turned around. I was correct. She was extremely ugly. "Is that your friend?" she asked sweetly and tugged at the dog's leash. The Chihuahua was going crazy.

My hand tightened on my sword. "Yes," I said. "That's my friend. Leave her alone, she's not from around here."

She lumbered over to me slowly. "I suppose you are from around here. You support the Yankees?"

I cursed my choice of baseball cap. "Yes ma'am," I said. "My favourite team."  
I could nudge her foot with the sword… and if she exploded into a bunch of yellow powder, then she was a monster. If she was unharmed, then she was just a fat ugly lady who creeped us out. But still mortal.

"I met your brother before," she said. I wondered when she'd met Justin.

"Really?" I asked. I moved the sword, just a bit, towards her foot.

Her pupils became slits and a forked tongue came out.

"Okay! Not a mortal!" I screamed and swung the sword. The woman – I decided to think of her as the woman because I had no idea who she really was – easy side stepped it and lunged at me. I stepped back onto Nico's foot.

"Ouch."

"Monster," I reminded him. His Stygian blade was out.

The monster/lady walked back to avoid our swings. "Chimera!" she ordered. "See to these two."

The dog changed. Nico and I automatically took a step away from it. It expanded into… well, a chimera. It was some hybrid of a lion, a goat, and a serpent. I dove behind the tree to make sure I didn't get whipped by that serpent tail. When I peeked out from behind the trunk, its lion head roared and spewed out flames. I gagged at the smell of sulphur and eucalyptus leaves among the smoke. This guy really needed his breath checked.

But among other things. Seriously?

Despite all the training we did yesterday, I didn't actually expect to encounter monsters.

I ran from the tree – it was now on fire. Maybe I should've done the brave thing and attack it right there, but I wasn't an idiot. I took out my dagger and threw as hard as I could. It bounced off the tree and I cursed my shaking arms.

Cailey shot an arrow to the Chimera but her arms were shaking as well and the arrow missed. Echidna – I suddenly remembered from my mom's tales – before she gave up on me – was standing calmly like she couldn't wait to see one of us die. I wanted to wipe that smile off her face but the Chimera was the priority right now because it was trying to murder us.

"Distract it!" I shouted at Nico and Cailey. Nico tried to get in close range for his weapon to work, but Cailey was hanging back, waiting for a perfect opportunity to shoot her arrows. She only had a limited number of them.

Cailey looked at me like I'd better have some crazy plan ready and shot the Chimera in the eye. It roared and singed off most of the leaves from the tree next to it. I ran towards that tree and doused it with water from the nearby lake. Calling up the powers made me feel slightly drained afterwards and I had a harder time getting up the tree. My hands gripped the bark and I wiggled out onto the branch. _Déjà vu,_ I thought of the day I'd done the same thing on another tree in Camp Half-Blood. I waited for the Chimera to stop moving and dropped down onto its back.

It must've felt the sudden weight because it started jerking, trying to shake me off. I wrapped my arms around its lion neck just in time to stop myself from falling to the ground. Its snake tail swerved up to bite me but I knocked it with the flat edge of my blade. The sword was in my hand, but it was slipping away fast and I couldn't get a good grip on it. How was I supposed to get it to remain calm enough for me to stab it?

I swung the sword at its head awkwardly, pulling at its hair with one hand to keep myself on. Nope, no effect. The sword dropped to the ground and the Chimera stopped having muscle spasms just long enough for me to punch it as hard as I could from the back of its head.

That was enough to daze it. "Go!" I shouted to Nico who plunged his sword into the Chimera's goat stomach. It shuddered another time and I fell off, hitting my head against the tree. For a few seconds, I saw stars. Then my vision cleared although I thought it was unwise to move like this.

Nico's sword was still in the Chimera's stomach. All the life seemed to suck out of the monster until it was dead. That was one wicked blade. The Chimera crumbled into sand and I hoped that the monster would stay dead for a _very_ long time.

"No!" Echidna howled. "Curse you!" And then an arrow tip sprouted from her chest and she fell to the ground, evaporating into sand just like her son did. Cailey's arms were still in the position they had been to shoot the arrow and she was shaking like she had hypothermia.

The rain slowly pattered down on us.

I grabbed my dagger and my sword. "We need to move. There could be more monsters around." Cailey silently slung her quiver over her shoulder and wrapped her fingers around her bow instead of swinging it over her shoulder like last time.

"That was a nice wake up call," Nico said sarcastically. "Anyone hurt?" He had opened the backpack and was twisting the cap off the canteen of nectar.

I touched the back of my head, and felt my fingers touch something sticky. Blood. "Nasty cut on my head. Pass the canteen." He did and I took a gulp of nectar, feeling the warmth spread all over my body. "Anyone else?" I held it up. Nico and Cailey shook their heads.

"I just have a cut on my arm, but I'll bandage that one up," she said.

"What time is it?" I asked her.

"Two fifteen."

"Time to visit our Aunt Froddy," I said. That got everyone smiling. I looked back at the burnt trees and shivered. Nice to be back home.

**Now that the chapter's up, the afternoon's free for whatever I want to do. And I guarantee I'll take your compliment/criticism to my heart/consideration.**

**Until next time! ~^^~**


	14. We Play DressUp

**So there's twelve days left of summer vacation… then its school. Thank you to those who reviewed! :D And so, here is chapter fourteen. Hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: F.C and R.R are very different initials. **

**Read and review!**

**We Play Dress-Up**

We stopped in front of the Gucci store, sopping wet and generally, not a pleasant sight. _Walking in the rain isn't as romantic as it sounds,_ I thought and pushed on the door. We stumbled inside, dripping rainwater onto the floor. The saleswoman turned up her nose at us. She was prepared to talk but I did before she could.

"We're meeting our aunt here," I said. "And –" A sound nearly made me swing my sword around. Nico had taken off one of his shoes and tilted it upside down so a bunch of water hit the floor. Cailey and I jumped aside to avoid the splash.

The woman had been looking distastefully at us, but now she was enraged as if the floorboards had some special connection to her. "That's it! Out!" she shooed. Maybe we could fight monsters and defeat the Chimera, but an angry lady was not something you wanted to face. So we stepped back outside.

Thankfully, under a ledge. I took the chance to wring water out of my hair. "Well, that didn't work," I said. "We've still got ten minutes before we're supposed to meet."

"How about knocking her out?" Nico tried.

"How about _not_ knocking her out?" Cailey sighed. "You get this massive headache after you wake up. And it's not pleasant. I don't think she'd like it."

"Here we are, returning something to a goddess, and you're worrying about small things," Nico argued.

"We'll distract her, ok? How about that?" I cut in. "We won't be knocking anyone out. That's like overkill. All we need to do is get to Aphrodite, give her the scarf, and then get out."

"Have a plan?" Nico asked. The silence spoke for me. "Guess not. Cailey?"

She was biting her lip like she was trying to hide a smile. "I took acting classes before I went to camp," she said. "I know Dionysus is the god of the theatre but my dad's patron of the arts."

"What are you getting at?" I asked.

"Simple. I go in there and complain about some product of theirs and keep her distracted," she said. I looked at her. Her tall frame helped with the young woman act, but her face it away. We would need to cover that. And the clothes she picked out weren't all too bad either.

"Okay, it's an insane idea but it's all we got," I said. "Are you good at acting?" I just couldn't see Cailey as an actress. She was quiet, opposite of the character she was going to be playing.

She blushed. "Trust me on this one," she said. "I've been taking them since I was six."

Nico kept staring at Cailey like he had doubts. I grabbed his arm and he was startled. "Come on, we have to find sunglasses."

~0~

After paying for a cheap fake of Gucci sunglasses from a street seller, we got Cailey ready to go. I tied her hair up in a sloppy bun and pushed her inside. "Best wishes!" I hissed and closed the door.

Through the slightly tinted glass, I saw her snatch a scarf, stash it in her pocket, and then stride up to the woman and turn her away from the door. She was waving her hands around as if extremely infuriated about something. Nico and I pressed our faces to the door to watch her. I bet we were getting a lot of strange looks, but as long as it wasn't from that lady, we were fine. Then Cailey waved her arms around again and she flicked her wrist towards us. _Go_.

Nico pushed on the door and we slipped in. I pulled down at my cap once I saw the security cameras. He lingered at a table full of wallets and picked one up. I slapped his hand. "Come on, we've got to move. You can't seriously be interested in shopping right now."

Nico looked up at me. "See those security cameras?"

"Yes I have," I retorted.

"If we run through the store like we've got something to hide, then they think we've got something to hide. If we pretend to be normal people…"

"Normal soaking wet people usually not allowed in the store," I pointed out.

Nico scowled. "Listen, we've only got one chance and we can't screw this up. Now act interested." He put the wallet back and we walked slowly together to the back of the store, periodically searching for Aphrodite and checking on Cailey.

Right now, she was still complaining to the woman. "Low quality! See this tear? Not even after two days of wearing it! I demand a full refund –"

"We will get a full refund for you dear –" the woman stuttered.

"And a new replacement for such horrible products!" Cailey demanded. Wow, she was good. "Chop, chop! I don't have all day!" The woman spun around towards the room behind the counter. I was having silent hysterics.

I swiped a scarf off the table and pretended to be interested. I looked up at Cailey. She was pointing to the watch. Just then, the woman came back with another scarf. "Here's another scarf to your…" she turned around to see who Cailey was looking at. I dropped the scarf, took Nico's wrist, and ran for somewhere to hide. We ducked under a rack of coats.

"Can you pay attention? The customer service here is horrible!"

Nico and I breathed as silently as we could. The sword scraped against the floor, leaving a scratch as wide as my hand. I shifted and almost screamed when I heard someone say behind me, "Can I help you?"

It was another saleswoman. How lucky we were. I stood, pulling Nico up with me. We were in a dilemma. Except this time, we weren't prepared. She looked expectantly between Nico and I, waiting for us to explain why in Hades we'd been hiding under fur coats. "No," I said slowly. "We're doing just fi –"

"There you are!" exclaimed a woman's voice behind us. Automatically, we turned – and my jaw dropped.

She was wearing a bright pink Gucci dress – the price tag swung behind her neck – and her sunglasses covered up her eyes. Her hair – I was pretty sure it was brown, no wait – kept changing colours. She was the opposite of Echidna in appearances, though. I think Nico would've started drooling if another man had not come up behind her.

He was also wearing sunglasses but I got the feeling he wasn't the most handsome of people. He was radiating power though, like… a god. I looked closer at those sunglasses and swore I could see flames. And his presence made me want to lift up the rack of coats and throw it at the wall for no apparent reason.

"Silly kids," she cooed as if we were two. "Don't go away. I'll be done soon." We meekly walked away, past the two Olympians. "Sorry about them…" I heard her say. "It must be a real hassle for you to work here. Say, why don't you take a coffee break? And take your friend up front too…"

We stopped in front of the mirror and looked at each other. "Well, we've found Aphrodite," I said. "Pass the backpack."

Aphrodite and Ares – I figured he was Ares because of the sword by his side – walked over towards us. She took off her sunglasses and I saw her eyes change colour just like her hair. Violet, blue, green, dark brown, hazel… But instead of looking at us, she leaned towards the mirror, took out a tube of lipstick, and gently dabbed at her lips.

Nico bowed and I figured I should too. It was much less weird than curtseying. So we did, and after a while, we stood up and I took the scarf out of the backpack. "Here's your scarf, Lady… Aphrodite." I inclined my head a bit because I didn't know how my relationship was with the goddess. After a while, Aphrodite took the scarf and wrapped it around her neck.

"Oh, lift your head girl," she sighed. "I'm not mad at you. Just a little ticked off, that's what." She pinched my cheek and I winced, struggling to keep a smile on my face. _A little ticked off? _"I've got all sorts of things planned for you," she added and winked. Then her attention wandered over to the mirror again and she frowned. "Ares, I think the colour's a little off, don't you?"

"If you say so," he said in a bored voice. He was now spinning his sword around.

Nico pulled on my arm, but I kept my feet planted to the ground. "Hold on… all sorts of things planned for me?" I asked. I should've kept my mouth shut but I didn't like her words. "As in… love?"

"Oh yes dear," she replied, and patted at her hairdo. She turned to wink at me again. "I know exactly who –"

"No," I said flatly. "Don't go around screwing with my life to your fantasies. I'm not a person you can use in your… your next Romeo and Juliet story!"

Aphrodite merely smiled up at Ares. "They were my favourite couple," she mused. "Tragic ending, but romantic too. You know, Shakespeare wrote the play based on the actual story." She sighed happily. I figured that she was shallow and yet _so_ into love.

"Romantic? How is bringing Thalia to Camp Half-Blood romantic?" I yelled at her. "Nico sure didn't think it was romantic. Humiliating, more like it!"

Up until that point, Aphrodite had been reapplying her lipstick – _yet again_. But now she was looking angry. There was a crease in her brow. "I am the goddess of love. I know what I'm doing," she said.

I wanted to argue more but Nico clamped a hand on my mouth. "Thank you my lady, we'll be going now. Right, Lena?" He aimed a pretty damn hard kick at my leg.

I gritted my teeth. "Whatever."

Aphrodite lost interest in us. But Ares was doing the opposite. Before I could go and find Cailey, he said, "Next time you anger the gods…" then he chuckled like he couldn't wait to see me screw up another time.

"I didn't anger the gods. I took the scarf because _she_ sent Thalia –"

"You think that's the only thing that's keeping you in the black books?" he grinned.

"Ok, so what if I'm Poseidon's kid? His fault, not mine. Yeesh, get over your sibling rivalries," I said and my fists were automatically clenching up. "If you ask me –"

Nico aimed another kick at me. "Thank you for your time," he said.

Ares grinned again and let us go without another thought. "By the way," he called to Nico and me, "watch out for monsters, will you?"

~0~

"What were you thinking?" Nico asked once we were a few blocks away from Gucci. "You could've gotten a love arrow stuck up your butt!"

"I don't want her to mess around with my opinions okay? When I fall in love, I want it to be… true. Not arranged." Sappy, but I thought my opinions were good. "Having someone plan out your entire love life counts as arranged."

"That was still risky –"

"Stop arguing," Cailey said for the hundredth time that day. "We need to get back to camp." She took out the bag full of currency and fished a drachma out. "That's our number one priority, not what Lena said, okay?" She dropped the drachma back in.

Nico huffed another time. "Let's find a fountain," he said gruffly. "Another monster is the last thing we need."

And so we walked a few blocks north until we were back at Central Park. The fountain was another short walk and soon, we were in front of it. The water was kicking up mist, which was exactly what we needed. And the rain had stopped too, allowing the sun rays to peek through the gray clouds. There still weren't many people around so now was the perfect time to IM.

Nico took out the bag of money again. I picked a drachma and threw it into the fountain. "O goddess, accept our offering," I said and watched the rainbow shimmer for a second. "Chiron, Camp Half Blood." An image of the familiar centaur appeared. Except we were staring at his tail. I called his name several times before he turned around and I saw Percy there too.

"Hey guys," I said.

"How was it? Run into any monsters?" Percy asked us.

"Yes we did in fact," Nico replied sourly. "An old _friend_ of yours came to visit and she brought her little doggy too."

"The Chimera?" he frowned. "Did you kill it?"

"Of course we did, otherwise we wouldn't be alive," I said. "Chiron, we're coming back. We gave the scarf to Aphrodite, so everything's ok now, right?"

He didn't look so comforted by my words. "Perhaps, they shall be," he said. "I take it I'll see you in a few hours?"

"Yeah. See you." I waved my hand in the Mist and the connection broke – just in time too, because a jogger was coming right around the corner. The man's hood was up. I would've understood this if it had been raining, but there was a gut feeling that told me something was off. I turned my back on the jogger and faced Nico instead, who was holding up the bag of money.

"I think we have enough money for the bus tickets," Nico mused. "Where did you – hey!" he shouted. One second I was looking at Nico. The next, someone roughly pushed me from behind and I was falling forward to the ground. I held out my hands and felt the ground scrape my knees. After a moment, I staggered back up and saw the jogger struggling with Nico, both pulling on the money bag. It tore, and a hole opened, littering coins onto the ground.

"Kick him!" I screamed and raised my fist but the jogger tugged one last time, kicked _Nico_ and sprinted away. I ran after him. That had all our money, drachma, and cash. If we lost it, then we couldn't get back to camp.

At first, I was sure I could catch him. I mean, I've done plenty of running from monsters. But several blocks later, it became evident that this guy had done plenty of running from angry people. I ignored the stitch on my side and pushed up my pace until I was sure my lungs would die. He ran through a gate and disappeared. I followed him.

And came to a screeching halt at the edge of 59th street. Cars honked. I ignored them and whipped my head around, trying to find the jogger. But he was gone. He could've disappeared into many of the shops or returned back to Central Park through another entrance. Wherever he was, I would never catch him.

All our currency was gone. We were miles away from Camp Half-Blood with no money.

~0~

"Shadow travelling?" I suggested. "Is it too far away or..." Although I knew there was no possible way Nico could shadow travel all three of us to Camp Half-Blood, my heart still sank when he shook his head no.

"Camp Half-Blood is _miles_ away."

"How about summoning a hellhound to help you?" I asked.

"I could try, but I get exhausted afterwards." I thought about it. Nico had missed the border during Capture the Flag and that distance only covered a fraction of the distance between New York City and Camp Half-Blood. Even with a hellhound, I didn't want to take the risk of ending up at the wrong town.

For a wild moment, I wondered if I could use my 'sea powers' and ride the waves all the way to Camp Half-Blood. But I was inexperienced, and it was possible that instead of ending up at Camp Half-Blood, Cailey and Nico would end up making an unscheduled trip to the Underworld.

"There should be a way," Cailey said. "Is it possible to get back to Camp Half-Blood with ten dollars?" She held out a bunch of coins and a bill. I vaguely remembered the coins that had spilled out from the hole created while they were pulling on the bag.

"No," I said. "If you want, I can dive into the fountain and get a bunch of coins from the bottom," I added sarcastically. I looked up at the sky to curse the gods or something but my eyes focused on something else in the distance. A building. I felt a smile stretch across my face – one you'd usually see on the Stoll brothers. "Actually..."

"Is it a crazy plan?" Nico muttered.

"Somewhat. We're going to rob my dad's office," I announced. "Don't make that face. I'll repay it someday. Besides, it's technically called borrowing, isn't it?"

**Like it? Hate it? Please review!**

**Until next time! ~^^~**


	15. Who Are You Calling a Cheater?

**Chapter fifteen! When the story ends, it'll probably one of the shorter stories of mine... I've written a story – not a fanfic – with one of my friends for NaNoWriMo. Search it up on Google. Insane? That's what I thought too, but it's really a way to keep you motivated. **

**JSPRSGRL no, it's not the empire state building… although I wish I thought of that. It's a good idea though. Lena's relationship with the gods are not as personal as Percy's… for now.**

**Disclaimer: Not... Rick... Riordan... for the fifteenth time...**

**Warning: swearing. It's an emotional chapter.**

**Read and review! **

**Okay, now I'm going to stop boring you with this note. Here's the chapter. :)**

**Who are You Calling a Cheater?**

My dad – well stepdad, technically – was, to put it shortly, a paranoid man. He was always sure that something would happen to us and we'd end up on the streets. How pessimistic. So he hid pockets of money everywhere in places he regularly accessed. Namely, his office.

I'd never been inside his office before. Hell, I didn't know what his job was. But it happened so that one time while skipping school for the thousandth time, I caught a sight of him entering a business like building, a suitcase in one hand, and a cellphone pressed to his ear in the other. Just to make sure that was his office, I came back for a week, and every single day, I saw him get out of a taxi in front of the building. So obviously, that was the building he worked in.

"You _are_ going to repay him, right?" Cailey asked me.

"Of course. He's my dad. Do you have a better plan?"

Nico thought for a moment. "We could borrow money from Sally –"

"She's away at Montauk with Percy's stepdad. Percy told me," I said. "Listen, it's okay. I'm going to pay him back. I swear. Besides, the security guy knows me. I sometimes go visit him in the office." I was lying through my teeth and I half-expected Nico or Cailey to accuse me of it. "I'll leave him a note."

Nico shifted from foot to foot. He looked at the building. "Fine."

Because it was Sunday, I was sure I wouldn't run into my dad. After all, he always spent his Sunday afternoons golfing. He took me there once, and let me tell you, he stinks.

The security guard sat at a table, totally bored, drinking a cup of coffee, and reading the sports page. He didn't bother looking up as I approached the table. "I'm here to see my dad," I said. "He's working weekends and he forgot something at home." Then I held up the backpack, hoping he didn't see the baseball bat outline in the backpack. Since I was tired of carrying it around, I stuck it in there. If any monsters surprised us, I could distract it long enough with the dagger to get out my sword. He looked up once and nodded.

"Who's your dad?"

Well, it would suck like hell if he figured I was lying because he remembered that Greg Evans never went to work on weekends. But I didn't know any other name so I just said, "Greg Evans," and forced myself to breath evenly.

"Go on in. Sixth floor." He returned to his sports page.

I waved Nico and Cailey over to the elevator and pressed for the sixth floor. The doors closed. I stared at my slightly blurred reflection in the elevator door. "We're in. All we have to do now is find the money." The elevator beeped and the doors slowly opened. I stepped outside and looked to my left and then to my right, unsure of where to go. This wasn't exactly the espionage mission you usually saw in movies.

"You were lying, were you?"

"I haven't been here in a while," I snapped. "Now help me find his name on the door. It's Greg Evans." We separated, Nico and Cailey going to the right while I went to the left. I stopped at the first sign and squinted my eyes, cursing my dyslexia to kick in a time like this. _Juile Rbotreosn_. I blinked several times before I could read the sign again. _Julie Robertson. _Nope. Not it. I walked over to the next sign and tried again. _Dvae Fschier. _It took me another five signs before I read one that had my dad's name on it. I called Nico and Cailey and pushed on the door.

The office was boring. There was a gray desk with a computer screen set on top. Pens and notepads were neatly lined up next to them. A plant sat in the corner, almost dead from neglect. The window offered a beautiful view of bricks from the building next to it. I sat on the office chair and spun around a couple of times before I noticed the coffee cup on the desk.

I picked it up. It was warm.

I bolted out of the chair and opened the first drawer. "My dad's here. The coffee's warm."

"What?" Nico and Cailey chorused.

"Just find the cash and then we'll leave." I swept through all the drawers on the left hand side. Nothing but binders. I opened them just in case but all their contents were sheets of paper filled with info so boring I felt like falling asleep. Cailey opened the file cabinets and flipped through the files. Nico was working on the desk with me.

I reached out to the computer screen and noticed a small post-it note. _4:30 Sunday_. Which was exactly the time it was. I checked behind the computer screen. No cash, but I brought out a picture of Mom, Justin, and Jordan. The picture frame was broken. I cut my thumb on a sharp shard of glass. The pain was almost as bad as the one in my heart.

Every single damn family picture in our house was devoid of me. In the office too. My parents blotted out any sign that I existed. I let the picture frame fall to the desk and wiped the blood off my thumb and onto my pants.

Nico and I continued to search all the drawers in the desk. When we were done, I headed to the dying plant and picked it up, checking for any money underneath, and then dug around in the dirt although I knew my father wasn't such a creative man. He'd always use methods that were so clichéd like...

I went back to the desk and opened the big drawer on the left. Nothing but one binder. I took it out and felt around the edges to lift the false bottom off. Underneath, were rolls of cash. I grabbed the first one and counted silently in my head. A thousand dollars. Benjamin Franklin stared up at me. There were at least ten bundles of cash, tied together by an elastic band in there.

"One thousand should be enough, don't you think?" I said to them. Nico and Cailey stopped searching and we stared at the money together.

"Yeah," Nico answered. "More than enough."

I stuffed the cash into my pocket and then carefully fitted the false bottom back where it was.

That was when I heard footsteps in the hallway. We shut the door as quietly as we could. Probably just another person working overtime. I looked uneasily at the coffee cup.

"Hide –" I hissed.

The door opened and in came my father before Nico and Cailey could find a place to hide. Successfully, at least. Nico crouched in the corner by the plant as if he hoped he could pass as a fern.

But my dad didn't see him. Or Cailey. Or me. No, he didn't see us because his lips were pressed against someone else's and he was holding her awfully close to him. I picked up the picture frame and cradled it in my hand. Whoever that woman was, it wasn't my mom. My mom had dark brown hair. She was a blond. My mom was at home, probably gardening in the backyard, or dusting the picture frames. She was right there in my dad's office kissing him like there was no tomorrow.

My dad was cheating on my mom.

The picture dropped from my fingers and made a loud sound as it made contact with the floor. They broke off from their kissing and my dad stared at me. "What are you doing here?" he asked and then cleared his throat.

The woman was pretty, which made me hate her guts even more. "Is this Jordan?" she asked sweetly in a voice that had a double meaning of _She's young and stupid, she won't tell_.

"No," I said slowly, glaring at those blue eyes and took a few deep breaths. My fingers curled up in my palm and I suddenly needed to throw something. "You know what? I probably should ask you what you're doing here. You know my dad is married."

Her finger curled around his hair but he pushed her away. "Elena darling –"

"How long?"

His right hand turned the wedding ring on his fourth finger. "That doesn't matter. Tell me how your camp is –"

"I asked you how long!" I raised my voice. "How long have you been cheating on Mom? How long? How long have you made her feel guilty about having an illegitimate child while you snuck to work every Sunday, pretending to be golfing, so you could do the same back to her?" I picked up the picture frame and held it in my hand for a second before I dropped it into the trash. "Guess you don't need this."

He started to protest. I kicked the garbage can over to him. "That's what you think of your family. Garbage." Then I strode over to him. The woman shrank away as I ripped the loose fitting wedding ring off his finger. I hurled it towards the window, wishing it was open. "You don't need that either." All five people didn't say a word.

"Elena –"

"Let's go," I mumbled to Nico and Cailey. They fell in step behind me. I tried not to run, but I tripped over my own feet and started running anyway, towards the elevator.

"Elena!" My dad – no, my stepdad – called from behind me.

"Fuck you dad!" I shouted. "No wait; you're already doing that with her!" I entered the elevator and wished the doors would close faster.

~0~

"Deep breaths. Just calm down and you'll be ok," Cailey said softly to me. She patted my back several times as I stared down at the brown plain paper bag in my hands. "She's hyperventilating," Cailey told Nico, who hovered uselessly by me. "Give her a few minutes."

"I'm fine," I said and crumpled the paper bag into a small ball, imagining it to be my dad's face. The rain started up again and we huddled in our little corner. "Let's go home." Home, as in Camp Half-Blood. I heard that you got to choose whether or not to stay year round at the Camp. And it seemed like it was going to become my permanent residence. "I'm sick of New York City."

We hailed a cab and rode to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the cold glass of the window. No tears rolled down my face, though I felt like crying my eyes out. I was too angry – not smash something into pieces anger like before, but a silent anger that builds up inside you. What a day it was. _First, we get attacked by the Chimera. Then we lose all our money. Then we get money back but discover my dad is cheating on my mom. And we also visited Aphrodite – Aphrodite!_ I considered the possibility that this was the goddess's doing for a moment. But I dismissed it, because there were too many factors pointing to the fact that this was my dad's own doing. First of all, the security guard was unsurprised when I told him Dad was working overtime. As if he came to the office all the time. Second, his inability to hit a golf ball. He would naturally suck if he never played it before and just used it as an excuse.

"We're here," Cailey said. I pushed on the door and ran towards the bus terminal. _Feels like déjà vu._

We purchased the tickets back to Long Island and sat on a bench, waiting for the bus to arrive. I turned the sword slowly on its point. It was back in my hand. I didn't want any possible complications to occur if we got jumped on by monsters.

"Anyone hungry? I can buy some snacks if you want..." Nico said. "No?" He took out some change and headed to the nearest shop. I hugged myself, wishing there was a sweater I could put on. The air conditioning was too low.

"You alright?"

"I'm hungry, that's all."

"Nico just asked –"

"I know." Some conversation. I waited for Nico to come back. When he did, with two bags of chips, my mouth watered and I forgot how long I'd survived at Camp Half-Blood without junk food. "Give me some." I reached out but he pulled them out of the way.

"These are my chips," he said.

"That was my money," I responded and smiled in for the first time in what seemed like ages. Cailey nudged him and he passed the chips over. "How was that for a mission? Fun day, right?"

They looked uncertainly at each other. "I suppose," Cailey said. "But at least the scarf's out of our hands. Aphrodite's free to do whatever she wants with it."

"That can't be a good thing," I muttered. "_I've got all sorts of things planned for you_," I mimicked. "Gee. Can't wait."

"You gotta fall in love someday, whether Aphrodite plans it or not," Nico said.

"What do I know? I'm only thirteen," I sighed and tore open the pack of barbeque-flavoured chips. "Oh _gods_ I'm starving."

Mist formed in front of us. I nearly fell over backwards in surprise, wondering if it was some parlour trick. A female voice spoke. _Please deposit one drachma._

"What in Hades," Nico cursed. "It's an Iris message."

"Drachma?" I asked the mist, as if it would respond. "We don't have any. Wait, Cailey, did any drachmas fall on the ground by the fountain?" But the mist was already fading away. "Hope whoever on the other end got a refund," I said. "Who do you think tried to contact us?"

"It shouldn't matter," Cailey said. "We're almost at Camp Half-Blood anyway."

"Nothing will happen in five minutes," I said. Just as I said that, my eyes caught a man staring right at us. I stared back at him, hoping to intimidate him but he didn't look away, and grinned, showing uneven teeth. His face reformed for a second. I blinked. No. There were _two_ eyes... I blinked again and the two eyes joined together.

I fell over backwards.

"Lena?"

"Cyclops," I said. I felt like I was going to start hyperventilating again but I pinched myself and then gripped my sword. "Let's go on the bus. It's here. I don't want to fight another monster." We took our stuff and headed to the bus but that was when we saw the other Cyclops waiting by the door.

"Coincidence?" Cailey asked.

"Doubt it. Don't draw attention to yourself."

My sword accidently went through a mortal's leg. The man looked down in surprise. "Hey –" Sure, he couldn't see it was a sword. But wouldn't you be surprised if a baseball bat passed through your body?

"Sorry!" I shouted behind me. "Too late," I told Nico. The Cyclops spotted us. He walked towards us, cutting off our route towards the bus to Long Island. I grabbed Cailey's wrist and ran towards the next bus.

"Whoa Lena!"

"Come on, run, before they kill you!" We climbed onto the first bus we reached.

"No, no, no, get off," the bus driver said. "No tickets."

Nico waved them madly in the air. "Tickets! We have tickets okay?" As long as the bus driver didn't get a close look at them...

"Sir, there are criminals chasing us," I said. He looked blankly at me. I pointed to the Cyclopes, who were running towards this bus. "Bad people!" I shouted at him.

He closed the door and waved us down the aisle. The entire bus was filled with Japanese tourists. They gawked outside the windows at the Cyclopes. No kidding. They'd just grown into their 30 feet form and were flourishing clubs around. I didn't know what the mortals saw. It was scary enough for the bus driver to want to rocket out of there at 90 miles per hour.

We each took a seat at the back, across the aisle from each other. I put my face in my hands. "Sorry guys, it just doesn't seem like we can get back to camp today." I was exhausted. Now just when I thought this could all end, it couldn't.

"Then where are we going?" Nico asked.

Cailey knotted her fingers together and then unknotted them to pick up one of the many brochures lying on the ground. She read the large black letters on the front. "West Point."

**Like it? Hate it? Suggestions? Please review!**

**Until next time! ~^^~**


	16. The Innkeeper with the Axe

**Sorry for the sort of late update… I've had a lot of events happen in the past days and then my brother kept hogging the computer... Anyway, I don't own PJ&O… who is this helping?**

**The Innkeeper with the Axe**

I tapped my foot against the seat in front of me. I was bored. Really bored. At first, we weren't because we were busy checking whether or not these Japanese tourists were actually monsters waiting to devour us. But it pretty soon it became obvious that these tourists were just tourists. So I was staring at the window. The sword and backpack were propped up on the seat next to mine and Nico and Cailey were sitting across the aisle. Nico's head was turned outside towards the window. From my spot, I saw a green blend of trees and bushes rushing past us. Cailey, feeling the weight of today's events – _so far _– had surrendered to sleep and her head was resting right then on Nico's shoulder.

"So," I said. "Some mission. It feels like we're on a quest. Not that I would know."

"We did okay, I guess," he said. "Know how we're going to get back to camp?"

"No."

"Then we'll go with the flow."

I sank into my seat. "Everything's been spinning out of control. Do you know what that feels like?"

He didn't speak, and for a moment, I thought he'd fallen asleep too. "Nothing was in my control in the beginning. Bianca and I stayed in a hotel for a month when I was ten and she was twelve. It felt like a month, but about seventy years had actually passed. Some weird hotel magic. We couldn't remember our past. I was okay with it at first, but then Bianca died and I had to find out who my mom was." He paused. "Did I answer your question?"

"Sort of. But continue."

"It turns out her name's Maria di Angelo and she was killed by Zeus back during World War Two."

I stopped kicking the chair in front of me because the person had just given me an evil glare. "Oh." Yeah, I could've comforted him, but I wasn't sure what to say. "Well your father must've loved your mom a lot to have two children with her," I said bitterly and swept back a stray hair. My finger went to my hair band.

"I know I should tell you to forgive him, but seriously, he doesn't deserve it," Nico said. "So it's your choice. No one's going to make you say something you don't mean."

"Wise words," I sighed. Then I paused. "I know I don't want to forgive him. It's just... my mom deserves to know. But I don't know how to. She's ignored me all these years. And the letters she's been sending... I haven't even bothered opening them." My pride was to be sacrificed if I informed her, and really, the truth was, I was selfish in wanting to keep that pride. "I don't know who to tell, what to do..." _And I don't like that_, I finished in my mind and kicked the chair again.

The man in front of me turned around and yammered something in Japanese, but his expression told me to stop or risk getting another evil glare.

"Lena –"

"I'm tired. I'm going to go to sleep, okay?" I turned onto my side and snapped my hair band against my wrist, ignoring the fact that the skin underneath was red.

~0~

A short while into my nap – I never actually meant to fall asleep, but I couldn't help doing so – someone woke me up. My hand reached out towards my sword but I opened my eyes to see it was just Cailey.

"Rest stop," she said. "Some fresh air might be good for us."

"Good is an understatement. This bus ride is too long for someone with ADHD," Nico muttered and we went outside to the rest stop. It was a small one, with a smelly building designated as washrooms, and a picnic on the small patch of grass a family had already claimed. I walked around in circles, shaking out the numbness in my arms and legs.

"How's the road trip?" someone asked. I recognized the voice and turned around to see the god of thieves.

"Boring. Thank you for asking, Lord Hermes," I said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. The mortals looking at us would think that I was talking to a tree, because Hermes was behind a tree. "Do you have something for me?"

His satchel appeared over his shoulder and he stuck his hand into it, rummaging around until he found one addressed to me. "Here you go," he said. I took it upside down, the flap facing towards me.

"Have a pen without snakes?" I asked but he began glowing brightly, so I decided he probably didn't. I looked away until the light disappeared and then looked back at the envelope. I flipped it over. My name was handwritten.

"Lena? Get on the bus, everyone's leaving."

"Just a sec," I replied. The garbage can was right there, to my left. I could drop it in and forget all about it. Keep my distance, and hope she'd get the message I didn't want to talk with her in any way at all.

"Lena!"

"I'm coming!" Before I could think this through and decide what it meant about my pride, I put the letter in my pocket and ran towards the bus. _I'll throw it out later,_ I said to myself. _There are plenty of garbage cans at West Point._

But I didn't. It's only so long you can sit on a bus with nothing to do but read the letter in your hands without opening it. So I turned it over and ripped open the envelope. I looked to the window and wondered if I could dispose of it by opening it and throwing the letter outside to rest somewhere on the grass of the middle of nowhere.

"From your mom?" Nico asked me.

"Yeah." I showed him. "Should I read it?"

"She deserves to know, Lena."

"I know."'

"But then again there's the whole pride thing."

"I know."

"I'm not helping, am I?"

"No."

"Well it's your choice."

I waited until he was looking at the window to unfold the letter. The words were in my mother's handwriting. It took me quite a while to read the first few sentences.

_I know you haven't been reading my letters. I don't blame you. The first letter we sent you was cruel_

It was. I was holding the page so tightly I was digging holes into the paper with my fingernails.

_but your father was quite upset at the truth._

My father was Poseidon. A lousy one, but better than Greg Evans. I continued reading. Throughout the letter I got the feeling she wasn't focused on writing this letter, as if something else was on her mind. She talked about my stepsiblings, but her sentences sometimes ended in the middle of a thought. But I didn't know why until she reached the bottom.

_Your father is the same, but he's been acting distant lately. It may be from your absence but_

Yeah right. My dad and I never had those cuddly family love moments. I couldn't remember the last time we had a normal conversation. Mom would normally never think that as a reason. Was it possible she knew about…

The letter ended there.

_But…_

What?

I crumpled the paper in my hand and cranked open the window. I felt the breeze on my face and breathed in the fresh air. Then I stuck my hand outside the window and let go of the paper ball in my hand. It wasn't important. It was just filled with lies.

~0~

"So where do we go?" Cailey asked. We'd just gotten off the bus in front of some bus station. After talking with the driver, we discovered there was a bus back to New York City tomorrow at two o'clock. We bought three tickets and now the sun was setting, leaving red and yellow streaks in the sky.

"A room at a hotel," I said. "There's got to be some place to stay for the night." I swung my backpack over my shoulder and looked at the empty road, wondering where all the other tourists went. From a quick inspection of the area, the town center seemed to be to our left, so left we went.

"You'd think people would be walking around in uniforms at this place," I commented. We passed a Chinese restaurant. As the door swung open, the smell of food wafted out and my stomach grumbled uneasily.

"This is not the actual school," Cailey said. "That's off limits. We're at West Point the town. It has a museum dedicated to the University though."

"And you know this how?"

"My family went on plenty of road trips," she answered and stopped in front of an inn. The sign was swinging in the wind creakily like it hadn't been oiled in years. I winced at the sound. The inn itself was made of wood. Paint was peeling and the porch swing moved back and forth eerily.

"Let's pick somewhere else," I suggested to which Nico hastily agreed despite being the prince of ghosts. "It's like a haunted house."

"Come on. What harm is a slightly creepy old house going to do? I doubt there are monsters and it's probably the only place around," Cailey said. "Guys, we can't afford to be picky."

"Yes we can," Nico said. "Last time I checked we still had several hundred dollars –"

"That we're going to return," she reminded us sternly. Gee, thinking about morals at a time like this? I sure wasn't. I looked at the inn and then at my feet.

"Fine. We go in there and ask to see one of their rooms. If it's a pig sty, I'm not staying," I said and we walked up the path. The air grew chillier with every step as the sun sank lower in the sky. I pulled open the door and waited for the others to pass through before I walked in after them. An old lady sat at the reception desk, knitting a lumpy piece of clothing – I couldn't tell what from the shape. There was a plate of mints. Nico grabbed a big bunch and wrappers crinkled in his hand. I slapped his hand down but he didn't let go and tossed me an evil look.

"Starving," he said.

"You're not the only one. Ok, eat them… just, quietly." We stood there, trying to look like good little kids in desperate need of housing, but my attention drifted from Cailey and the woman's conversation to the thick telephone book on the desk, which was interesting because West Point seemed like a small city. I moved closer to the book, wondering if it had the phone numbers of the towns in the region. But the letters started floating off the page again so I quickly lost interest.

"This way please, I'll send in my boss to see if the room is to your liking," her voice quivered. We followed her down the hall. She took out an old key and fitted it into the door. It swung open to reveal the room. Two modest beds. And tell you the truth, the room wasn't that bad. There weren't any cobwebs and the beds looked comfortable. The woman closed the door quietly.

"Not bad," I said and walked over to a bed. It was decorated with lava lamps on the headboard, which I found a little strange. "Two of us can sleep on the beds. One of us can sleep on that chair, I guess." I dropped the bag on the chair and sat down on the soft covers and bounced up and down gently.

"I'm going to talk to the lady up front, okay?" Cailey said. "Nico. Come." They left, leaving me in the room. I brushed my hands against the covers.

"Do you like the bed?" a booming voice sounded from the door. I looked up from the carpet towards the man standing at the door, who I assumed to be the boss. He was _tall_. And he was holding something in his hands. In the half dim light, I couldn't really see what it was.

"It's comfortable," I said and got up to, I don't know, shake his hand? He crossed the room and slammed me down on the mattress again, forcing my shoulder down with his hand. I winced.

"Lie down, I assure you I'll make the measurements accurate…" he said.

"Accurate – ?" I tried getting up but he leered at me.

"I wouldn't do that." Then he started muttering to himself. "Short. Quite short."

"Hey!" I wasn't that short… a centimetre shorter than the average height. Maybe I just seemed short to him. He was a freaking seven feet, easy. I glared into his reptilian eyes. Wait. His skin… it looked like leather.

"Won't need this anymore…" He set aside the object in his hands. I nearly had a heart attack. It was a giant doubled bladed axe, probably bronze from the look of it. Was that ketchup on the edges…? I didn't want to think of the alternative.

"What's that for, sir? It looks admirably… sharp." I struggled for words, finally have put two and two together and realized this man wasn't normal. Which innkeeper would lug around an axe all the time?

"Oh this?" He patted the axe. "It's used for people over six feet. You see, I measure the heights of people on this bed. If they're not exactly six feet, I cut off the excess height."

"And what about people under six feet… sir?" This was – the name slowly surfaced in my mind. Procrustes. The stretcher. The dude Theseus killed. I had to get off this bed.

"I stretch them with ropes, like this." He raised his fingers. I held out my hands.

"Wait, wait, wait!" I shouted and waved my hands in his face. "Can I… touch the axe? It's very –"

"Don't use that trick, daughter of Poseidon," he growled, acting like a monster for the first time. "When your brother killed me a few years back, I sought revenge and have been ever since."

Oh great. Was it just me, or did Percy have a spat with every monster that existed? "Your beds are very comfortable," I said weakly. Where were Cailey and Nico? My hand went to my thigh, where the dagger was. Why did I have to put the bag on that chair? Procrustes snatched my hands and forced them down on my sides.

"Ergo!" he said and snapped his fingers. Thick ropes tied around my arms and legs and started pulling me vertically. At first it was slightly unpleasant but then it became just freaking unbearable. I was sure my shoulder joints would pop out of their sockets soon.

So the ropes were too tight. I couldn't light my arms or my legs at all. My breaths were coming in short bursts, but I had to do something so I breathed in as deeply as I could without my already tortured ribs protesting even more and screamed. It echoed off the walls but no one came so I breathed in again and –

"Not wise," he said and brandished the axe. I let out the breath and tugged on the ropes, feeling them cut into my wrists. Nothing I could do. I let myself go limp and stared up at the headboard, right underneath where a lava lamp would be. My arms were losing circulation and I swore I couldn't feel my legs at all – nothing but the screaming sensation of being torn apart.

"Crusty!" someone shouted behind him. At least I think the person said that because my ears were filled with the sound of the rushing of my blood. Then something pinged off Procrustes's head and landed on my nose. I went cross-eyed to see what it was. A green mint inside a plastic wrapper. Nico?

"Would you like to try a bed too? Join your friend here."

There was the sound of someone charging across the floor. And then relief as the binding ropes were cut. I lay there, feeling the warmth spreading back into my arms and legs and staring up at the ceiling, not believing I was alive. Then I shook myself and sat up on the bed.

Procrustes was holding Nico up by the neck. His grip was so strong it was choking him. His face was turning the same shade of blue I saw on him when he drowned. Procrustes threw him onto the other bed and then turned to me.

"Er –" he started.

I got out my knife and stabbed him the same time an arrow pierced his heart.

Dead two times over.

**Like it? Hate it? Please comment… :D I will love you if you comment. Make a girl happy!**

**Well, I'm going to stop torturing Lena soon… soon… I've got about four more chapters planned unless I change something.**

**Until next time! ~^^~**


	17. Even the 'Innocent' have Secrets

**First of September! For me, six days until I have to go back to school... well, can't wait to see my friends again. But I'm not looking forward to French class. X.X **

**So.. this is chapter seventeen? Yes, chapter seventeen. :D I'm counting in my head... three, four chapters left. T.T Then I'll be free to focus on my studies. I don't know if I should write a sequel. Should I or should I not... **

**Anyway, I don't own Percy Jackson and stuff. Never been to Texas. Probably never going to. **

**Read and review!**

**Even the 'Innocent' Have Secrets**

After being almost stretched to death, I was hoping for some nice treatment from the others. But after Cailey checked everything, she said I was fine – I just had a little stretch workout. So when she insisted on leaving right away and find another place to sleep, it was a better sounding plan to Nico instead of my idea of curling up on the bed and snoozing away.

"You look taller, if you don't mind me saying so," he said to me as we went down the wooden porch steps. I punched him.

"Not funny. And you should've guessed I mind." I kept the sword in my hand. I made myself swear an oath that it would never leave my hand until we were back at Camp Half-Blood.

"Don't argue," Cailey said wearily but all the fight had gone out of her voice as if she couldn't care less if we ripped each other's throats out right now. "Please," she added half-heartedly.

I gave Nico one more look and then caught up with her. "Something wrong?"

She clenched her jaw and then shook her head slowly. "Yes," she admitted. "I screwed up. I practically forced you guys to check out the inn. We could be safe right now if it wasn't for me."

"Come on, how could anyone know there was a lunatic with an axe waiting for us?" I tried. Okay, yes, I was a little resentful since she forced us to our next monster, but that didn't mean she had to mentally beat herself up because of that. "Listen. I screwed up way more times than you did. I bet Nico will too."

"Thank you," he said sarcastically.

I ignored him. "Demigods _always_ screw up. No one can be perfect." Oh, great, what else did I have to do? Burst into a rendition of _Nobody's Perfect_ and kill everyone's ears in a mile radius? "Cailey, forget about it. We're going to be at Camp Half-Blood soon. We'll just have to survive until then."

She tried smiling but it ended up as a grimace. I slung an arm around her shoulders. "I've... had bad memories of this place, so –"

"Guys, you think this place has monsters?" Nico interrupted. I frowned, annoyed, but Cailey didn't seem to mind. We looked at him and then followed the direction his finger was pointing. There was a motel with a flashing sign.

"Let's go," I said. "What are the odds of running into another monster?"

The answer was unspoken. _Very high._

~0~

Fortunately for us, there were no presences in the motel that wanted to chop our heads off/burn us/eat us or kill us for no reason at all. We settled in quickly and then bought food from the convenience store next to the motel. It wasn't healthy food. More like instant ramen and coke. We pigged out in our room and then for an hour, just relaxed.

It seemed like a long time since we had a chance to relax. I lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling, laughing my head off because... well I didn't know why. It just felt good to be around people I trust and like. We were goofing around, acting like I hadn't almost died just an hour ago.

Then when we were all exhausted, we started talking. Just talking. Opinions of sports teams, what our lives would probably be like if we weren't a demigod, but never on our actual personal lives. That was the one subject we never touched.

Until we were ready to fall asleep. After rinsing my mouth, I claimed the chair, letting Cailey and Nico take the bed. I wasn't going to be doing much sleeping tonight anyway.

"Lena?" Nico asked when Cailey was in the bathroom. I was stuffing ramen containers into the garbage. "What did you do in the end?"

"For what?"

"The letter."

"I chucked it out the window." I turned around to face him. "Have a problem with that? It's my life, not yours." Then Cailey returned and the tension eased.

Cailey fell right asleep. She slept with the covers pulled to her chin, and her hand resting on her arrows. The objective to survive was back, and all signs that we had been relaxing were erased. Nico fidgeted on the covers for a while, not bothering going under the covers in case of an attack. He was fully dressed – shoes and everything, in preparation just in case we needed to make a quick escape. His hand was gripping his Stygian iron sword. It didn't relax even once he fell asleep.

And me? I was holding my sword too, but unlike Nico, I wasn't going to fall asleep. So I quietly opened the door and stepped outside, closing it gently behind me.

Our room was on the second floor, so I could see the stars. I leaned against the railing, carefully arranging my arms so that the wrists wouldn't touch the wood. The skin had been rubbed raw. A minor injury if you were a demigod, but it still hurt. I exhaled and saw condensation in the air. It was a chilly night.

My eyes trailed across the sky. I didn't know the name of the constellations I saw. Never bothered learning. Maybe my mother used to mention a few constellation groups to me, linked with Greek Mythology, but at that time, it was a small insignificant detail compared to say, how Hercules slayed the Nemean lion.

_I've had bad memories of this place_, Cailey said.

Then Nico had interrupted.

What bad memories? Something like indigestion at a restaurant? Or something bigger? I made a note to ask her in the morning, but I wasn't sure if she'd answer. "Everyone has secrets these days," I muttered.

A guy came up next to me. I figured he was another guest. He put an arm on the railing and looked up at the sky. "Enjoying the view?"

I looked suspiciously at him. He was seventeen or eighteen, a few years older than me, with sandy hair. And he was pretty good looking. Okay, maybe kind of hot. But that didn't mean he wasn't a monster looking for a meal.

Then he cleared his throat. "Stars are bright tonight. I come to help my daughter. I am a good dad." He flashed a smile. I stared at him, wondering what in Hades that just was. "Like my haiku?"

So it was a haiku. One of the worst in the world. "Sure," I responded. He had a daughter? Wasn't he a little young? "Who are you?"

He spread his fingers on the railing. "Apollo," he said cheerfully. "God of the sun, poetry, prophecy, oracles, and music."

I said something intelligent like, "Um... okay," and skipped the whole part where I was supposed to bow down to him. I looked up at the sky. So he was Apollo. God of poetry? Doubtful. This hot guy next to me was Cailey's father. Which was totally weird. "What do you mean by helping Cailey?" I asked. "In your poem. You said something like 'help my daughter'."

He seemed to conjure up a painful memory. "Would you change your past if you could?"

I thought about the number of times I skipped school, the number of times I'd somehow ended up at the principal's office before that, and the number of times my parents ignored me since they gave up. "Not my past as much as who I live with," I replied.

"You've done things in the past you regretted, didn't you?" Apollo asked. I looked down at his Converse shoes.

"Yeah. But what's the point of reliving them? I mean, you can't change it, right?" I sneaked a peek at the god's face. "So you might as well stop thinking about it."

He grinned. "Exactly! Now try and remember that in the future – especially about Cailey, okay? She's a sweet girl."

"Sir," I said, "Why are you telling us this? Is something going to happen that I don't know of? I mean you are the god of prophecies and the future and everything..."

Apollo drummed his fingers on the railing. "Sorry kid, it's against the rules to tell you. It's against the rules to tell you even this, but," he pointed his finger at the door to our room, "that's my daughter in there. So I'll appreciate it if you don't rip her to pieces once you find out." He winked.

"Find out what?" I felt like grabbing the god and shaking him by the shoulders, but he was a god.

"I give her advice. Elena demands the truth. I have to go." He smiled one last time and glowed brightly.

I turned away towards where I imagined Mount Olympus was, and whispered to the sky. "The last line was four syllables."

~0~

"Wake up!" I ordered and flung open the curtains to let sunlight in. "You guys have been sleeping _forever_ and check out time's in half an hour." It was ten-thirty. I envied them for their ability to sleep.

Nico scowled, tugged the blanket from his side and then rolled over to block the light. "Let us sleep," I heard him mumble. "Ten more minutes. I swear I'll get up."

"On River Styx?"

"Shut it."

I left him alone before he decided to permanently shut my mouth. "Cailey?" I shook her shoulder. "Help me pack. We're leaving in twenty minutes."

She yawned and pushed the covers away, fully dressed. "Good. Can we leave now?"

"Nico's being a lazy ass, so no." I picked up a cup and drank from it.

She wrinkled her nose at the smell. "Is that coffee? Since when did you start drinking coffee?"

"Since I begun staying up all night because I couldn't sleep," I replied and made a face at the bitter taste. Hell, I didn't even know if it was helping me stay awake. Hopefully, yes. I wrapped my fingers around the hilt of my sword. Cailey disappeared into the bathroom. I looked at the clock. Ten thirty three. Whatever, Nico should be up anyway. So I tapped him on his head. "Get up sleepy head. Now."

"Can't let a poor sleep deprived boy sleep," he grumbled. "Why are you drinking coffee?"

I sighed. "Either this coffee doesn't have enough caffeine or I'm really tired, but this," I waved the coffee cup around, "isn't helping." I poured the contents down the pot of a plant.

"Here, this might be helpful." He reached for something beside the bed and brought out one last can of coke.

I gave him a comb in return. "Comb your hair. It's a mess."

"I never do." He stared at it in his hands like it was a foreign object. "Didn't you get bored staying up all night?"

I rolled my eyes. "Listen, Apollo visited me last night. He told me that we're going to find something out about Cailey and when we do, we have to remember we like her."

"O-kay," he said. "Then whatever we're going to find out's probably major. I don't think Apollo would come and talk to you just because Cailey played with Barbie dolls in the past."

"What Barbie dolls?" Cailey asked and shut the bathroom door. "Did I miss something?" she asked confusedly.

"Nothing," I said. "Well, I think we're all set. Let's go."

After returning the room key and checking out, we wandered around the streets, looking for somewhere to eat. We went back to that Chinese restaurant we saw the night before and filled up our stomachs with noodles and rice before heading back out.

"So. We've got a bit more than two and a half hours to kill. What do you want to do?" I asked. "There's a museum right across the street about West Point. Want to check it out? It's better than staying at the bus station for two hours."

"Museums are boring," Nico said.

"There's nowhere else interesting. Unless you'd like to buy lamps," I said sarcastically. "The light's green." We crossed the road. "Maybe there's a weapons gallery. West Point _is_ a military school."

The museum was a tower consisting of two wings from the side, jutting out to form a wide U around us. Visitors were swarming around to take pictures in front of the building, or by the big tank by the gates. I opened the wooden doors and we slipped inside, out of the sun, and into the air-conditioned room.

"It's free," I said after reading a sign and shivered from the sudden change of temperature. "No admission fee."

"Sweet. Now let's find an exhibit that doesn't give us the Zs."

I walked over to the map and studied it. "History of Wars exhibit?"

"Nah."

"History of _American_ Wars exhibit?"

"No."

"Weapon galleries?"

"That's more like it."

"It's in the basement," I said. I went two steps down the stairs before someone put a hand on my shoulder. I jumped and turned around to see a man in a security guard uniform. "Yeah?"

He pointed to my sword. "No weapons in the museum, Miss. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to hand that over."

Alarm bells began clanging in my head. I didn't give it to him, but moved my arm back. "Th –This isn't a sword. It's a –"

"Baseball bats count as weapons," he said gently.

My heart stopped hammering, but just for a second. I needed this sword. It gave me reassurance. And I'd become sort of attached to it. "Is there anyway I can keep it with me? I swear I won't do any harm. Please?" I asked in a sugar-coated way and went as far as adding, "Sir?" which I usually only used for the gods.

He seemed to waver a bit.

"Listen, this bat's special to me. It was given to me by my dad, who used to take it around with him wherever he went. Now he's in the hospital… and I take this bat around like him." A story perfect for any sappy novel. But he ate it right up. Some security guard. But maybe it had something to do with my age that made him go easy on me. I'd slightly bent my knees and tilted my head up at his face to give him the impression that I was short. My eyes were widened so much tears were forming which only backed up my story.

"Go on in. But if there's any trouble…" he let that sentence trail off. I thanked him and then joined Nico and Cailey at the halfway landing of the staircase.

"Where did _that_ innocent face come from?" Nico asked.

"Shut up," I glowered up at him and then ran down the rest of the stairs.

The weapon galleries were divided into two parts: there was the small weapons gallery, and then the big weapons gallery located a level lower. We checked out the small weapons first. I peered from the balcony which provided a view of the big weapons gallery below.

Cailey looked at the display of bullets near the entrance of the exhibit. Nico got bored of looking at them quickly and moved onto the axes and spears. I joined him at his side, lugging the sword behind me. "That Japanese spear is wicked." He pointed to the flames decorating the sides of the shaft. Or at least I thought they were flames. They looked more like squiggly lines from this point of view.

"More decorative than the ones at camp," I agreed. The couple next to us gave us a weird look so I lowered my voice to a whisper. "Javelin throwing was a pain." We moved onto the swords and daggers. I compared my sword and an old rusted one on display. There wasn't much on them though, compared to guns. Rifles were dissected and put on display but I didn't bother reading the small signs. By the time we got to the modern guns, Cailey was a century behind us, still looking at rifles. I stared at the handguns, my head already crammed full of pictures of huge guns you had to balance on your shoulder and submachine guns. As I waited for Nico to finish up, my eyes wandered around the exhibit. I leaned over the side to see tanks.

That was when I saw the group of three.

They were an odd group. There was a girl maybe only six years old with red curly hair. A boy probably a year older than us with dark hair, and another girl a bit younger than us with hair so light it looked white. Unless they were adopted, no one would mistake them as family.

"Ready to go to the large weapons gallery?" Nico asked. "Or are you just going to stare all day?"

"Let's wait for Cailey. I don't want to get separated."

So we waited. Nico went back to looking at guns while I studied the group. They were looking calmly out in different directions, but nowhere near me. I got that prickly uneasy feeling and rubbed my raw wrists. The boy's hair shimmered under the light, looking more dark blue than black. He turned towards me and I saw the sword in his hand.

At first, I thought he'd somehow smashed through one of the displays and taken the sword as a souvenir, but then I realized it looked awfully shiny, meaning not rusted. So it couldn't have come from the display. I looked down at my sword and then back at his.

"Nico?"

"Yeah?"

"That group of three..."

"Tourists?"

"Well the guy's holding a sword so I don't think so."

He looked from the display case. "What? Demigods?" he asked and joined at my side. I pointed them out to him. He frowned. "I don't know them. Is there like a satyr around? Maybe to escort them to Camp Half-Blood?"

"They look alone," I said. "I've been watching them for five minutes and no one with horns showed up. Should we introduce ourselves? Be the nice demigods and escort them to camp? It won't hurt. They probably need help."

Nico was on the edge of making a decision. "They don't look very friendly," he muttered.

"But neither did you when I first met you," I pointed out. "And well, we aren't killing each other, aren't we?"

"Close enough though."

Someone tapped my shoulder. Cailey peered over the edge. "Why don't you go down and see the tanks?" she asked. "You didn't have to wait for me."

"It's not the tanks. Those demigods –"

She turned pale.

I noticed her reaction. "What? Do you know them?" I demanded. "Are they people we should avoid?"

"That boy over there," she said, her voice so quiet I could barely hear her, pointing with her finger. "He isn't a demigod. His name's Alec and he's the son of Oceanus."

"A demititan?" I stared at the boy with a new interest. "Of Oceanus? How do you know this?" Apollo's words echoed in my head. _I'll appreciate it if you don't rip her to pieces once you find out._ Was this related? "Cailey, you can tell us anything."

Her fingers clutched the railing like it was a life line. "I knew him. And those two girls. The little one's called Atalanta. And the other girl's Jess. I – I travelled with them."

"Like to camp? Then why are they still here?" Nico asked. "Did you ditch them along the way?"

Then the boy – Alec – below seemed to notice us for the first time. He raised his sword directly at us and grinned. "Hey Cailey. So you've come back." I recognized a Southern accent, probably from Texas. I don't know, I've never met someone from Texas before.

She took a deep breath. "Not for you, jerk."

"Traitor," he countered. "You've got two demigods with you."

"So do you."

I think I only made things worse when I said, "Do you need help getting to camp?" Cailey stiffened and her arm reached behind her for an arrow. Nico took out his Stygian iron blade. My fingers wrapped around the sword tighter.

"Camp?" He shook his head. "I don't know what Cailey told you, but you see, we aren't exactly on the same side."

**I've toyed with the idea of Cailey having secrets for a while. Her personality's sweet and stuff but you can't have a perfect character. So, I'm going to add a past that she'd rather stay buried. :P **

**Like it? Hate it? Want to flame it? How about constructive criticism? ^^ well, whatever you want to say, please take like five seconds of your time to comment.**

**Until next time! ~^^~**


	18. Love Conquers All Sort Of

**Note: ok... i didn't copy off the names or anything out of twilight intentionally. I read twilight b4, but i'm not a giant fan. Not a fan at all actually. xP i don't know how these coincidences occurred. O.O ****Buuuuut anyway, here's chapter eighteen! -sniff- my story's coming to an end soon... Hope you enjoy this. **

**Disclaimer: If I ever own Percy Jackson, it's going to be in my dreams.**

**Read and Review!**

**Love Conquers All… Sort Of**

I automatically stepped back. _Oh Zeus. Bad people alert_. "Let's get out of here," I said. "Now."

"Not yet," Cailey protested and then turned back to Alec. "The war's over. A year ago, Alec. Forget about everything and come back with us to camp." I tugged on her wrist but she moved it away. "Please Lena, I have to try and convince him." She looked at me pleadingly.

"Quickly. I'm not going to get stuck here for another night," I said, regretting the words almost immediately. I didn't lower my sword though.

Cailey lowered her bow though I noticed her notch an arrow out of Alec's line of sight. "The gods are still ruling. It's pointless for you keep fighting. Camp Half-Blood will welcome you."

He pointed at himself. "Me? I'm an abomination to everyone. The gods may be ruling but what do they see me as? A half human child of their recent enemy. My father's weak point. I'm never welcomed." For a second, I heard something like sadness in his voice. Nico started clenching and unclenching his fists. He had probably experienced what Alec was feeling back when there was no cabin for the children of Hades. "Of course you would be welcomed. Your father's an Olympian. Do you believe Atalanta and Jess would be received with the same treatment? The daughters of Nemesis and Eris?"

"They have cabins for the minor gods," I said. "I'm sure they'll fit in."

"And there are no boundaries? The demigods live together perfectly?"

I hesitated. Of course the demigods of the minor gods practically hated the children of the major gods. "Yeah. We get along well," I lied. He only smirked, which showed he didn't believe a word I said. "Why do you even hate the gods so much?"

"I've already given my reasons," he said. "You know who you should ask? Cailey. She's plotted with us for the past months about how much she _hated_ her parents. How she'd love watch Mount Olympus crumbling down."

"He's lying," Cailey said without missing a beat. "I came to Camp Half-Blood, didn't I?" Her hand pulled back on the string, ready to aim and let the arrow fly.

"And then she left. Suddenly. Woke up one morning and she wasn't there anymore," Alec continued. "You can't imagine how much that hurt me. Cause Cailey and I were more than just friends."

I nearly let go of my sword. _He_ used to be like Cailey's boyfriend? Sure, she was a few months older than I was, but still... Talk about your exes.

"I trusted her. I waited for her to come back for two months. No word."

"She's not as cold-hearted as you're telling us she is," Nico said coldly. "She never could've been that way."

I wasn't so sure. I'd seen what humans could do. What if her nice and friendly personality was a way to atone for what she did before? "Why didn't you ever tell me?" I asked her softly. "I could've listened, you know."

Her eyes were blazing. "Because, I knew you'd react like this. You wish you'd never brought me, right?"

"As much as I want to shake some trust into you, no. You've been an awesome partner so far," I said. "We've all got something we've done in the past we're not proud of. Apollo told me that."

She blinked. "My dad talked to you?"

"Sort of a warning. To not kill you when I find out." She smiled. I looked down at Alec and the other two demigods, who were talking quiet together. The little girl looked up at me and glared with such intensity all stereotypes of the younger children being sweet and innocent washed away from my memory. "They're not coming. Let's go. We're only wasting time."

"I know... but –"

"You still like him, don't you?" We stared at each other for about a minute.

"If we don't get to the exit in five seconds, I think we're all going to end up in Hell," Nico warned. I looked down only to discover... yup, they were gone. And I didn't think they'd just gone out for lunch.

So I turned around, and bam, there Alec was with a sword pointed straight at my chest. _Are you kidding me_. How the _hell_ did we not notice him come up? So in order to recover some of my pride, I held up a finger. "Wait. Give us one reason why you decided to kill me."

He gave a lopsided grin that would look pretty cute if he didn't poke me in the stomach with his sword just then. "A little battle, how about it? Daughter of Poseidon against the son of Oceanus. I've got Jess and Atalanta blocking your only exit. Defeat me and I'll let you go, without a question." He sounded so diplomatic at the moment.

I gingerly took the sword point and moved it away from myself. "No." Alec twisted the sword free until it cut my hand and raised it to my neck. At the same time, I had gone from girl-with-the-sword-pointed-down-towards-the-ground to girl-with-the-sword-also-pointed-at-his-neck. Cailey raised her bow and arrow to Alec. Nico had the Stygian blade aimed at him. Alec raised an eyebrow. It was three against one, and the odds seemed like they were with us, but I knew he was confident in his sword fighting skills if he'd decided to take on us alone. I turned my head slightly to avoid being grazed by the tip. "Cailey. Nico. The exit."

"But –"

"We're going back to camp as fast as we can and he's not going to let us go without a fight." I watched them run off. Mortals looked curiously at us but they didn't see anything suspicious, and continued to focus their attention on more interesting things, say, the submachine guns. "You said you'd let us go if I win. If I lose?"

"Don't," he advised.

I rolled my eyes. "Ain't that helpful," I said sarcastically forcing myself not to look away from those blue eyes. Some other part of me noted that his hair was blue. Dark blue, it could pass as black. Both of our fathers ruled the oceans and seas but he was the son of a titan. Which technically was more powerful than a god. Suddenly, I wished I hadn't sent Nico and Cailey away.

We started out swordfighting. Within seconds, he had me against a glass display case to avoid a nasty laceration to my leg but I just kicked him in the stomach as he had another go at me. He crashed onto the floor and I took this opportunity to run as fast as I could towards the exit. I couldn't see the door because the display cases were lined up to block it unless I zigzagged around them so I had no idea when Cailey and Nico would be done disarming the other two demigods. A hand reached out towards my foot and locked its grip around my ankle. I tripped, hard, and the sword skittered away from my hand. I reached out for it. It was right there...

Alec's foot came down on my hand. My eyes bugged as I heard a _snap_ and felt pain center around my broken wrist. I wriggled onto my back, screaming. His sword swept down at my neck. I whipped out my dagger from my thigh and blocked it just in time with my left hand. I put all my strength into forcing it away. _A little battle_. Pshaw, that move was meant to decapitate my head. My eyes locked onto his. He was fighting to kill.

I jerked my right arm, the one pinned under his foot. Sparks of pain began shooting up my arm again, but I ignored them, gnawing on my lower lip as I moved it sharply, unbalancing him. He fell and I made a run for it again. Not towards the main exit, but down the stairs to the large weapons gallery. There should be a door used to evacuate people in case there was a fire or an emergency. I tripped down the steps and then my own feet. Then I flung open the doors and the alarm wailed from inside.

Now the mortals were panicking. They trampled around, searching for the nearest exit. A surge of desperate people not sure what the hell was going on swept me out the door, away from Alec, and closer to the Hudson River. It was risky. After all, we could both manipulate water. For a while, I stood among strangers recovering my breath and trying to stop the blood seeping out from the cut on my palm.

"Do you know where my little sister is? She's a year younger than me and about this short..."

"Here she is!" boomed the voice next to me. I cowered and the man's large hands pushed me forward and into view. Alec smiled. In his hands, were both his sword and my sword.

All I had was a measly dagger.

I hopped over the fence and went downhill from there, to the water. It was the only thing besides ambrosia and nectar that could heal my wrist and palm. If Alec knew that, then maybe he wouldn't use water as a weapon. All it did was strengthen me. Then again, I couldn't use water as a weapon against him. I leaned over the river edge, remembering the first time I played Capture the Flag. Then I slipped and tumbled head first into the river.

Bubbles tickled me as they floated up, through my fingers and past my cheeks. I let out the air I had been keeping and watch as the air bubbles headed towards the surface. After convincing myself I wasn't going to drown if I let water in, I took a deep breath and was relieved to have oxygen flood my lungs. The bottom of the river was quiet and tranquil, just the place I needed to be. Sunlight filtered through the water. I dragged my fingertips around in the silt, watching it slowly kick up and then settle. The wound on my palm slowly sealed. Then I felt the bones in my wrist reconnect. Just a bit longer and then it would be as good as new –

The current changed, from slow and sluggish to fast moving. I kicked off the bottom quickly. This river could transform into a death trap within seconds if I didn't get out fast enough and slam my head against a rock. My head broke the surface and I touched my hair instinctively. It was dry. But I had a more serious question to solve than how my hair was still dry and that was where Alec was.

I dragged myself onto land and winced as my wrist screamed in pain. _Nope, not completely healed yet._ Alec was standing on top of the agitated river surface, focusing intently on the water below his feet, the two swords in his sheaths. The river itself was bubbling and whirling around him. Like a whirlpool.

"I'm over here!" I shouted. "Now stop killing the fish." A stupid thing to say. He looked at me and grinned. What did he want me to do? Summon up a bigger whirlpool and blast his away? What? Was this now a showcase of our talents?

Tourists behind me excitedly snapped shots, thinking this was some stunt trick. I knew this was the time to get away but something horrible was going to happen, I just knew it.

I watched as he formed a tidal wave behind him, large enough to wash all the tourists behind me into the river.

_Crap_. I moved closer to the river edge, trying to calm the river down with my mind. I wasn't even sure I was supposed to. _Calm. Calm. Nice Hudson River…_ I imagined a peaceful river flowing slowly between New York and New Jersey. Maybe it was just my desperation showing me this, but I thought the wave collapsed a little before roaring up again. I had to get in water for it to work. So I thought about having a stable patch of water at my feet and stepped in without dropping to the bottom of the river. Just like the day I fought the Hydra, stable water kept me up under my feet.

I slowly made my way to Alec and then pushed him over. His concentration snapped and both of us tumbled into the water. Then wave fell with us and tons of water slammed back into the river.

Usually people would find it hard to move underwater. Lucky for the children of Poseidon, I found it as easy as air. I grabbed my sword out of his sheath as he reached for his and then our blades clanged against each other. No sparks flew but it probably was because of the water. My right hand healed and was able to keep Alec from stabbing the sword into my stomach. My left hand held onto the dagger. I dropped it behind my back and twisted the sword down with both my hands on the hilt. The disarming move was tiring, but in the end, it worked. His sword fell out of my hands. He reached down for it but I kicked it back behind me and poked his chest with mine as if to remind him he could die by my hand.

Alec raised both his hands up slowly. "You win."

I dropped my arm, breathing heavily. Then I wasn't sure what happened next. He seemed to reach for something by his side and then knocked me down with the flat edge of the dagger in his hands. He slashed down. I closed my eyes and thought of a water shield surrounding my body. Impenetrable for as long as I could concentrate. Then I peeked. His dagger tip seemed to be right there in front of my face. Alec's blue eyes were furious but he couldn't get through.

"There, there children. Play nice, will you?" said a sarcastic voice to my left. A man with glowing blue eyes picked Alec up by the back of his shirt and held him up for inspection. Alec kicked his legs uselessly and swiped at his face, but the man knocked the dagger away. "Come on. I go down to Manhattan for two days and when I come back, there's a little demigod-demititan war happening in my home." He looked down at me. I scrambled back up to my feet and collected my sword and dagger. "Stay clear of my home, this is _my_ river."

To have a normal man declare that the Hudson River was his was definitely impossible, or at least unlikely unless he was insane. "Who are you?" I asked.

"The Hudson River spirit of course," he grumbled. "Now get out before I kick you out."

I swam for the bank.

When I got out of the river, mysteriously dry (or not so mysteriously when you're the daughter of Poseidon), Alec held out a hand. I ignored it. "What the hell is your problem? I won, you know? I was even prepared to let you go without a scratch. You don't just turn down an offer like that."

He had a smile on his face so… smug I wanted to slap him. "Then we play by different rules." Maybe I couldn't slap him, but I settled for a rude gesture aimed at him as I walked up the slope.

~0~

When I got to the door, Nico grabbed my arm. "There you are. Where in Hades have you been?"

"I had a little battle with Alec and nearly got killed about thirty times," I said dryly. "You?"

"Holding hostages."

I looked into little Atalanta's eyes. She didn't give me as much venom as before. Cailey put a hand on her shoulder. "You can come back with us," she said softly. "It's so much fun at camp, you can make lots of friends."

"Don't," the other girl – Jess – said. If looks could kill, well I wouldn't be alive to think that. But she had no weapon on her. I wondered if it was wise to just leave her against a weapons display case. After all, she could just break the glass and use that rusty sword as a weapon. But I guess she wasn't smart enough to figure that out.

Atalanta looked back and forth between Cailey and Jess. She raised a hand as if to point and began crying. Jess sighed and tapped her foot impatiently. Cailey tried soothing the little girl but she was unsuccessful. I fidgeted awkwardly. I was never good with little kids.

Nico put his hand in his pocket and took out a green mint. He offered it to the girl. "Want candy?" he asked and kept his hand out, completely uncomfortable. Atalanta sniffled and accepted the sweet. She pulled on the ends and took the mint out of the wrapper. Then she popped it into her mouth and calmed down, giving Nico a shy smile.

"Do you want to come?" Cailey asked. Atalanta nodded once and Cailey hugged her.

"Oh come on," Jess began but Nico had his sword out.

"You've got five seconds to shut up and stay that way before I run this through you."

She went quiet, fuming in the corner.

"Let's go," I said. "Camp Half-Blood's probably wondering where we are."

Atalanta reached into her pocket and took out a drachma. I stared at the offering. She cleared her throat. "To Iris Message," she said. "I never used it because Iris wasn't on our side."

I took the drachma. "Thank you, Atalanta." I brushed back a red curl from her face. Then I took her hand and left Jess and the weapons galleries behind us.

Alec was leaning against the wall when we exited the museum. He held out something in his hand. My hair band. I touched my hair and discovered it was gone. Maybe it came loose as we were fighting. "You weren't a bad opponent," he said. "Are you going to take it?"

I palmed the hair band. "Thanks." I studied him warily. "You're okay with us taking Atalanta with us?"

His smile dropped off his face. "I can't take away a person's free will. If she wants to go to camp, I can't stop her. I only wish I can." He patted Atalanta's curls. "Good luck with life."

That was such a bizarre answer. I mean, he wanted to kill us because Cailey left him. So I told Nico and Cailey to take Atalanta. I'd catch up with them soon. When we were alone, just the two of us, I said what I was thinking. "You really loved her, didn't you."

"Not enough to let her go," he said bitterly. "She may be accepted by society but I'm not. She was the only one besides those two to accept me."

"It may be because you try and kill other people before they get a chance to," I suggested. "And you aren't that bad, I mean, if you stop murdering other demigods." How quickly my impression of him could change. "One last thing. You sure you don't want to come to camp?"

Alec's smile was twisted. "The gods don't deserve their thrones. You can't convince me otherwise," he said. He looked towards the trio waiting for me by the gate. "You probably should go."

I took one step towards the gate. "Bye, see you." I let my hand fall. "Or rather, I won't."

"You never know. Maybe we'll see each other again," he said. "Next time if we meet, we might not be on different sides."

"Don't think so," I said and rested my sword blade on my shoulder. Ten steps away from him, he called me.

"Hey, just wondering. What's your name?"

I thought about it for a moment. Should I trust him? Of course I shouldn't. But I told him anyway. "Elena. But you can call me Lena."

**Don't worry, they won't run into any more monsters. :3 I won't postpone their journey's end much longer. And that last line was the line she used when she introduced herself to Percy...**

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**Until next time! ~^^~**


	19. Rebellious Me

**School starts in two days. Wow... Dx summer has passed so quickly, it's actually scary. Well anyway, this is chapter... something. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians... at all.**

**Read and Review!**

**Rebellious Me**

On the bus ride back to Manhattan, Cailey filled me in on her past – willingly. She was visiting West Point one year with her family when she met Jess and Alec. They told her all that 'You're a demigod' stuff after a monster attacked the museum. They were recruited on Krono's side during the Great War and basically, their mission was to keep West Point a Titan territory. So she'd joined and stayed with them without any news for a year. After a while, Cailey realized Camp Half-Blood was worth a shot and deserted them one night. As she was wandering around somewhere near New York City, a satyr picked her up.

"You must hate me," she said miserably. "I worked for the other side and now I'm leeching off Camp Half-Blood when I hated my dad in the first place."

I couldn't get her out of her bad mood because I was no psychologist. So I kept telling her that it was okay, no one cared, and she kept repeating that no, it wasn't okay.

Atalanta was having a much better time. She talked to Nico happily about butterflies and asking him questions about camp. I'm pretty sure she asked him one time if she got to pet the ponies. I couldn't believe she was a little girl under all that venom. But her dangerous side wasn't totally lost. When some guy turned around to ask her where her parents were, she glared at him so fiercely he turned right back, red as a tomato.

We transferred onto the next bus. Cailey took a seat next to Atalanta, distracted from her thoughts by keeping the little girl entertained. I took a seat next to the window so I could stare blankly into space and look like I was just enjoying the view. I kept thinking about Alec at West Point. A demititan. How rare were they? I was under the impression titans hated mortals. Especially the ones who fought in the war against gods – and mortals. I was pretty sure Oceanus was one of them.

"Hey," I said to Nico, who'd been unwrapping his last mint. "You're still eating that? It came from a murder inn."

"It's food," he shrugged. "Anyway, you wanted to ask me something?"

"Yeah," I said. "Did Oceanus fight against the gods last year?"

"He did. Just not in the first two wars – the ones against Uranus, and the first war against the gods." He popped the mint into his mouth. "You're thinking about Alec, aren't you?"

"Go back to eating your candy," I said and began staring out the window again. _What defines who we are_? It sounded so philosophical. _Ourselves. Our personalities… interests… not our parents_.

"You have the time?" Nico asked.

"I'm not the one with the watch. Ask Cailey." The forest rushed by us. We were surrounded in green. It wouldn't take much longer until we were at Camp Half-Blood, where Chiron would greet us. When we talked to him while Iris Messaging, he'd sighed with relief and demanded us return immediately. Right when he was about to start lecturing us or something, we showed him Atalanta and he became all soft.

Did I want to get back to camp? Hell yeah. I wouldn't have to worry about running into monsters every step I took. I wouldn't have to worry about how to get enough money for us to survive, how I could possibly stay sane after realizing we couldn't get back to camp after all. The past thirty-six hours have been the most nerve-wracking and emotional ones I've probably ever experienced. But there was something to be missed about being on your own with only your friends and rations of nectar and ambrosia for company. Back at camp, I was just another demigod. Sure, I was the daughter of Poseidon, but all the adrenaline would've passed. The adventure was done. Life was going to be boring again – or at least as boring as it could get when you're a demigod.

"It's our stop," Nico said and gently shook my shoulder.

"Really?" Three hours had passed quickly. I was now looking into the sky with a setting sun. Apollo came into my thoughts and I wondered how he and the sun were connected.

"Yeah. I'm starving. It's past seven."

"You use your stomach to tell the time? How typical of a teenage boy."

He just scowled.

We got off the bus. I calculated we had about a mile to walk before we'd reach Half-Blood Hill. About halfway down the road, Atalanta started complaining her feet hurt. Nico looked in his pockets for another candy to bribe her with but he'd already eaten all of them.

"Pick her up," I said.

Nico shook his head. "I'm not a vehicle."

"You're the strongest. We're getting nowhere. She's light enough for you to carry." I looked down the road. "It's only a short distance."

Atalanta held up her arms towards Nico. "Piggyback ride," she demanded. Nico grimaced and bent down low enough for the girl to wrap her arms around his neck. She clung tightly onto his back like a baby koala.

"Aw, you look so cute together," I laughed. "Stop frowning. No seriously, stop."

The big tree that used to hold Thalia Grace's spirit was just ahead of us. I looked around us, hoping no more monsters would come bounding out from the trees. Then we staggered up the hill and made it past the barrier.

Camp Half-Blood unfolded beneath us as I sighed with relief. Atalanta peeked out from behind Nico's neck. I could see the rising smoke from the Hephaestus Cabin and the shining golden roof from Cabin Seven. Cabin Eight was just beginning to glow in the sunset. Small figures dotted the area. Someone was walking in the strawberry field. Another camper was scaling the rock climbing wall. Two campers chased each other by Cabin Eleven. Then they all disappeared inside their cabins and the conch horn blew.

"Just in time for dinner," Cailey said. She was looking a bit distant. "I'll show Atalanta her cabin. You guys go ahead." The girl dropped down from Nico's back and gave him a big hug. Then she ran down the hill with Cailey right behind her.

"She hugged you. How sweet." He looked like Zeus had just told him to wash his gym socks. "Let's go. Are you starving or not?"

The dining pavilion quietened down as we entered the hall. But just for a short time. After being stared at for about two seconds, they went back to eating and gossiping – in Cabin Ten's case. I went to Cabin Three's table and slammed my hands down on Percy's shoulders.

"I'm back," I announced.

He choked on his brisket. "You didn't have to do that."

I slipped into the seat next to him. "Well, aren't you glad?"

He pretended to pout, which looked really weird on him. "I worked really hard on that mourning shroud."

I cuffed him by his ear. "Why _do_ I have a mourning shroud? It wasn't a quest."

"Everyone thought you were dead after you didn't come back yesterday night. There was one big celebration –" He ducked my attempt to knock some sense into him. "No, really, we thought something serious had happened to you. What happened?"

"We were about to come back when some of Tyson's not so nice relatives began hunting us down. We took the wrong bus, ended up at West Point, ran into another monster friend of yours – Procrustes – and then met Cailey's ex, a demititan."

"A demititan?" he looked at me blankly.

"Half titan, half mortal," I said patiently. "You know, like demigod?"

"No, I know that," Percy said, blushing slightly. "It's just –"

"You don't think titans ever hook up with mortals," I said. "I know. It's strange. Even though some titans are... not evil."

"What happened?"

"He happened to be the son of Oceanus... and then we had this battle on the Hudson River. Then the Hudson River Spirit came and told us to knock it off and quite possibly saved my ass."

"I think you're downplaying it." He chewed on his carrot thoughtfully. "What did you think about the demititan? Evil like his dad?"

"Obviously, if he wanted to kill me." I stopped from eating a spoonful of macaroni and cheese. "In fact, I'm not sure. There's that whole evil murderous part of him, and sometimes he doesn't know when to stop killing when your enemy has won – like honour and everything. But then again there's that whole courteous part of him. It's like he's multipersonalitied, if that's a word." Cailey joined Cabin Seven for dinner. She sat down, next to her friends. "Actually I feel kind of sorry for him. We demigods get Camp Half Blood as a safe haven. Last time I checked, there wasn't a Camp Half-Titan whatever."

"So you've gone from hating him to tolerating him to pitying him."

"You could say that."

~0~

Chiron wanted to talk to me after dinner, so instead of going to the campfire, I headed to the Big House, expecting to see Nico and Cailey there as well. But they weren't there. I sat on the porch bench, waiting for Chiron to come by, getting more impatient by the second because I didn't even get to settle in back at Cabin Three. My backpack was still on my shoulder and my sword was still in my hand. I could've dropped it off at my cabin before I went to the Mess Hall but my stomach had been calling at the time.

Chiron came around then. He went up the porch steps. I automatically scooted over to make him some room but then I realized Chiron would look a little weird trying to sit down on a bench. "Thank you Elena," he said nonetheless. I stood up, feeling a bit disrespectful at sitting down while he was standing.

"You wanted to talk to me?" I asked.

"I just want you to provide a quick recount on what happened on your quest," he said. I inwardly sighed. _Okay, so it was a quest. I give up._ "Observations, anything you'd like me to know."

So I explained everything that had happened. From the Chimera, to Aphrodite, to Procrustes, to Alec. I waited for his reaction to hearing about a demititan, but got none. So I ventured. "Um, don't you think it's weird a Titan fell in love with a mortal? Because I heard –"

"You are too close-minded," he replied. "There is always a possibility of having the seemingly impossible happen. You can't control who you fall in love with."

I let the argument go without yelling that I wasn't close-minded because an idea had blossomed in my mind during the bus ride to Long Island. At first I'd dismissed it because it seemed impossible and stupid, but then again, there was always a chance that he'd approve. "How about a safe place for demititans?" I asked him. "I know they're even rarer than demigods, and they're the children of Titans. But you shouldn't judge people by their parents. They deserve a place where they can train and learn how to defend themselves. Not necessarily Camp Half-Blood – well, we can do it here, but –"

Chiron put a hand up. "You will have to talk to the gods about this. I am just your trainer."

"You mean, on Mount Olympus?" I squeaked. "Um, can you talk to them yourself? I don't know if I'm on good terms –"

Chiron shook his head. "They have requested you visit Mount Olympus while you were on your quest. You might as well mention the idea of a demititan camp."

I stared. "Why would they want me on Mount Olympus?"

He patted my head. "Quite possibly to determine whether or not you get to live," he said with false cheerfulness.

~0~

My scheduled trip to Olympus was a week from now. For the rest of my definite life, I tried to pretend everything was alright. Travis and Connor didn't pull another prank. A camper didn't get severe burns from the rock climbing wall. The gods weren't thinking of how to kill me. In my mind, this was all completely unfair. I suffered through quite a few monsters and did a favour to Apollo – not to mention returned a belonging to Aphrodite. So why couldn't they just forget the fact I wasn't supposed to exist? Of course, I didn't tell anyone about this. I was just another camper glad to be away from the monsters outside of Camp Half-Blood. I wasn't too sure if they'd take pity on me, and as we burned my mourning shroud, I had a feeling we were going to need it real soon.

Of course, one of the first people to notice something was wrong was Percy. I mean, we practically spent almost all our waking hours together. Plus he was my half-brother. It was five days before I was about to probably die.

"Earth to Lena!" Percy yelled into my ear during swordfighting lessons. I'd just been knocked down for the twentieth time, except this time, I didn't get up.

I punched him lightly. "Thanks for making me half-deaf."

"I thought you were half-_dead_ for a moment. No, not for a moment, since you came back," he said. "What in Hades is bothering you?" He stuck his sword into the dirt and crouched down to look at me.

"You won't take 'nothing' for an answer, will you?" I mumbled and brushed back a strand of hair. If there was one guy I could probably talk to, it was Percy. After all, he'd been wanted dead by the gods too… several times. So I confessed. "I don't know if the gods are going to let me live or not."

"What are you talking about? Everything's alright, isn't it?" he said vacantly.

I rolled my eyes. "I return the scarf and everything will be alright even though I'm not supposed to be existing… and a million other reasons why I should die." Sometimes Percy was just so… clueless. I now knew Annabeth's frustration with him. The two of us had hesitantly started speaking to each other again during Ancient Greek lessons. I mean, I needed to make conversation or I'd fall asleep on top of the book during a long silence.

"Let's not think about that. You're going to live. All you're going to talk about with them is a camp for demititans," he said but he sucked horribly at trying to install some reassurance in me and he knew it.

"Another round?" I said half-heartedly.

A day after that, Nico figured there was something wrong with me. He claimed it was because I wasn't trying to kill him as often as before. At that comment I'd just given him a glare that might as well killed him and then ignored him for the rest of the time. But this pretending thing was so difficult in front of him I just stopped hanging out with him and spent more time with Cailey, who wasn't also as outgoing as before. When I was around her, all we did was try and improve my archery skills. Boring, and painful at the same time, but we didn't talk much, which was just the way both of us liked it. I was preoccupied with what would happen on Mount Olympus and Cailey was probably thinking about her past and Alec.

When I wasn't with Cailey, or training with Percy, or avoiding Nico, I went to the beach. I'd find myself a rock and then sit on it, listen to the waves or look out to the horizon, wondering where the heck my dad was and if he was even proud of me. He couldn't be, because he hadn't bothered checking up on me. A simple _Hey Lena, how are you enjoying life before death_ would've sufficed. To me, he was just another one of those divine forces in the sky having fun making my life spin out of my control. _Where are you? Why aren't you here…_

Capture the Flag happened. We won again thanks to Annabeth's ingenious planning. Campfire songs were sung. Pranks were pulled. I threw the javelin and it hit Clarisse – multiple times. Somewhere among all these events – scattered with no order, to me – I began thinking of writing a letter to my mom. I would sit down with a pen and a sheet of paper and then… nothing. I was still angry at her. I had five broken pens in my collection to prove it. She deserved to have one more letter from me but I just couldn't forgive her for neglecting me all these years. So in the end, the letter was unwritten and I was still fuming.

~0~

"You have all your arguments down?" Percy asked me the night before I was to appear at Mount Olympus. I was folding my clothes in a neat military manner. No one else was going to make my bed if I didn't return. He picked up the blank sheet of paper. "None?"

"I haven't been thinking about demititans," I admitted. "I mean, there's just so much to do before…" My voice wandered off.

"Lena, you have to stop thinking about it that way," Percy said firmly. "You aren't going to die, okay? Now come for a walk with Annabeth and I. Curfew's not until another hour."

I shook my head. "You guys go ahead."

"Forget Annabeth then, I'll take you down to the beach."

"Been there thousands of times."

"I have coke." He dug for something under his bed and came out with a pack of six cokes. That was pure evil, rooting out my weakness. Every camper would do anything for a bit of caffeine.

"How did you get that?" I asked. "The Stoll brothers?"

"They make regular visits to the camp stores. I would say don't tell anyone… but everyone pretty much knows. Now are you coming or not?"

Five minutes later, we were on the dirt path to the ocean. We'd only hid two coke cans in our pockets. Percy's sword was in his hand to fend off any practice monsters that wandered our way, but none of the monsters were around so he returned it into pen form once the forest cleared and the dirt under our feet turned into sand. I kicked off my shoes and squished the sand between my toes and then sat down on my rock. "You ever think he's out there, thinking of us?" I asked Percy.

"Yeah, and I know that as a fact. Gods aren't allowed to show favouritism to demigods – especially towards their own children."

"That doesn't mean Poseidon can use it as an excuse to not talk to me at all," I said. Maybe it was just me, but I swear the waves got a lot bigger after I said that. And I didn't think it was because of the tides.

"You just have to go against every rule, do you?" he said and sat down beside me, on the sand. I hugged my knees to my chest to protect myself against the cold.

"Yeah."

"Then stop thinking you're going to the Underworld. I've never seen you fully submit to an idea. Just go against the flow and tell yourself you're going to live."

"Yeah but… this is life or death," I said which was a pretty stupid argument because every day of my life here might as well be life or death. You could die from hunting down practice monsters. You could get third degree burns from lava. You could get impaled by a javelin if you were unlucky enough to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. "You know what, screw that." Why was I moping around anyway? "Gods, I wasted so much time," I moaned and took out a coke can to drown my sorrows in. I pulled back on the tab and drank from it several times before Percy spoke.

"You've still got the rest of today and some of tomorrow."

I sighed. "Whatever. I don't have anything else I'd like to do before I die."

"You're not going to –"

"I never fully submit to an idea," I reminded him.

I think he smiled in the dark, and so did I.

**Comment? Please? Review? xD**

**Until next time! ~^^~**


	20. Definitely Not How I Planned It

**So school has started and i'm not kidding when i'm saying i have a gigantic headache. i'll try and get the chapters on time but i dont know if i can... so read and review and i don't own percy jackson. xP**

**Definitely Not How I Planned It**

The next morning I got my sword and my dagger and went down to the pavilion to eat breakfast. Actually, I stumbled down to the pavilion to eat breakfast. I felt like a mess. Last night, Percy and I didn't go straight back to our cabin after our little talk, but stayed by the ocean fooling around with our sea powers, and trying to keep things light-hearted. The harpies caught wind of our breaking curfew and we got chased for a while before we were safe back in our cabins, out of danger of becoming food to hungry cleaning ladies. Then the caffeine from the coke kept me up half the night and when I fell asleep, I had that stupid drowning dream again – stupid, because I was a daughter of Poseidon and it was impossible for me to drown. _Chaos beneath the calm_. Guess that phrase still applied.

"Ready for Olympus?" Percy asked after I cleaned a plate of eggs and muffins.

"Who ever is?" I replied.

Percy, Nico and Cailey were there to see me off to Mount Olympus. Cailey said something about good luck with the demititan camp, still not fully aware with what was going on. Nico gave me a suspicious look. I looked blankly back at him and held back my smile when he turned away, frustrated.

Finally, I gave a hug to Cailey and said to Nico, "I would give you a hug, but you'd probably kill me."

He grinned, just a bit. "You got that right." So we settled on a handshake. "Have fun."

"I won't."

Percy messed up my hair, one more time. "You won't die," he said quietly, away from the others. "If you do, I want my dagger back."

I smirked. "Good luck with that. Make my mourning shroud pretty." But for the first time, I didn't mean it. There are only so many times you can hear people tell you everything will be okay and not believe it yourself.

~0~

Argus wasn't much of a talker during car rides so I was left with nothing to do during the long car ride but mull over things in life. I would've liked it to be deep and everything, but actually it was just really boring.

He dropped me off a few blocks away from the Empire State Building because parking was full at the building itself. Just before I closed the door, I asked him if I had to get back to Camp Half-Blood myself. He shook his head, so I assumed he'd be waiting for me.

Before I knew it, I was staring up at the Empire State Building. It was too tall for me to see the tip, and it made me dizzy too, so I headed in, among many other people in business suits. I looked out of place with my t-shirt and jeans.

For a second, I froze at the doorway wondering how to get to Olympus. I knew it had something to do with the six hundredth floor. Did I just have to get into the elevator with a bunch of other workers and ask for the button for that floor? Unsure, I walked to the reception desk.

"Hi," I said.

He looked up. "What do you need?"

"I'm visiting my dad… and he works _way_ up. Like up," I said, pointing my finger upwards.

"102nd floor, observation deck? He works as a security guard?" He made eye contact for a second before looking back at his newspaper again.

I wasn't going anywhere with this approach so I took out my sword from my backpack and dropped it right in front of his eyes. "600th floor. Now."

He blinked at the sword for a minute and then pulled out a card. "Use this in the security slot… make sure there's no one else with you," he said.

"_Thank_ you," I huffed and picked up my sword and the card. Then I shoved my way past a bunch of office people waiting for the elevator. People glared at me evilly, but no one dared doing anything until I was in the elevator and announced no one else could come in.

"This is ridiculous! We've been waiting for this elevator for the longest time –" a man ranted.

"Take the stairs!" I countered. "Work off the fat. I don't care how you get up but it's not going to be with me." I waved the security card around and pressed the button to close the door several times. "Adios." I left a bunch of really pissed and offended people in the lobby, but I wanted to have my fun.

I slid the security card into the slot. It disappeared. A moment later, a red button appeared, marked _600_. _Don't press the red button_, I thought to myself and pushed down on it.

The elevator slowly ascended. I yawned. You'd really think that the elevator would zoom up in a second and I'd be flattened into a pancake, but this ride was really slow. Some relaxing elevator music played, some song I didn't realize. The panel above me kept listing off numbers. _20… 21…_ _70… 96…_

_600._

The elevators door opened with a pleasant _ping_ and I stepped outside, nearly falling to my death below as I tripped over a step. White marble stairs balanced on a fluffy cloud, leading to a mountain peak. Last time I checked, there was no mountain in the middle of Manhattan. I looked down and saw Manhattan spread below my feet.

_Holy crap_.

It was snowing on the mountain. Already, I was beginning to feel cold as I slowly walked towards the Ancient Greek town on top of the mountain. I didn't trust myself to not trip over a rock or something and die before I was about to get to the palace. The palace of Mount Olympus sat on the highest part of the mountain, roads leading up to it from the small Greek town.

Snowflakes landed on my shoulders. I brushed them away and felt momentarily safe once my foot reached the mountain rock before I remembered that the mountain was technically floating in midair. I wondered if there were plane collisions here every so often.

I didn't note much of the town besides the nymphs, a bunch of people trying to sell lunchboxes, the fantastic architecture – designed by Annabeth Chase – and the concert going on in a square some distance to my left. And then I was on the steps of the palace.

The throne room was beyond the courtyard. I stood still for so long snowflakes gathered in my hair and I began getting chills. I walked in.

I wasn't sure what I was expecting to see before that. Maybe several gods sitting at a conference table drinking cups of nectar. Or maybe not to see the throne room at all as they'd already decided to kill me before I could enter. Whatever images I had conjured up, it didn't match what I saw.

The throne room was overwhelming. The room was so large I could barely see the columns holding up the room on either side. There was a large fire crackling in a hearth, like at Camp Half-Blood. Another similarity was that there were twelve thrones in a U shape around the hearth. Where I was standing was where the minor cabins would be. Above me, a dome rose with moving pictures of constellations.

A group of girls were just rising from their kneel in front of the god sitting at a head throne. Just looking at him made my body want to self-combust. He had this almighty powerful aura, magnified by the fact he was tall. Like ten feet tall. Zeus was wearing a business suit, quite like the many people below us in the Empire State Building. He had this beard that reminded me of a thundercloud, ready to unleash its onslaught of rain on a city. His eyes were gray. He was holding some sparkly stick, like a lightning bolt.

I looked down from Zeus to the girls at his foot. They were now walking towards the exit, wearing nearly identical outfits, with bows in their hands and quivers hanging from their shoulders. The girl leading it looked a bit younger than me but I already knew who she was. Artemis, goddess of the moon and the hunt. I was relieved that Thalia was still among them. She'd been threatened to be kicked out last time I saw her. She didn't notice me at first but when I sidestepped, her eyes went from determined at the ground to surprise.

"Hi," I said.

She looked like she wanted to say something, but she continued on, giving me a small wave.

Then it was just me, and the god – gods. There was another god here too. I'd only gotten a quick look at him before, during an Iris Message but I knew what to expect. Eyes that bordered on green and blue. Dark hair and a tan. His trident was in his hand.

I wondered who to bow to first but focused on walking forward and ignoring the smell of ozone in the air. Then I knelt down and lowered my head for about ten seconds, right in the middle of the two thrones. My sword clattered against the ground loudly and I picked it back up, my face red.

Zeus was looking pissed. Which was bad. Poseidon just looked amused. I looked back at my feet, fidgeting until someone would speak because it sure wasn't going to be me.

"You broke your oath again," Zeus said. "Twice now."

"Brother, the oath is a thing of the past. I thought we agreed upon –"

"The oath was still in effect at the time." I stepped back as his voice grew louder, threatening to wipe me off my feet. "You broke it."

"So did you," Poseidon said and it sounded like an argument between siblings, like one Justin and I always had. "She has done us more good than harm." This pretty much surprised me because I thought I'd pissed the gods off thousands of times more than I'd helped them. Which didn't help my case, but I thought that was the truth.

Unfortunately, Zeus thought so too. "I do not believe so," he grumbled. "She has already offended quite a few gods –"

"And sought for forgiveness," Poseidon interrupted. "She was a mistake –" At this I thought of kicking him. Hard. _Thank you so much_. My own dad didn't want me. Then again, I might actually be a mistake. Who would ever be drunk enough to have a child with my _mom_? Unless she was different fourteen years ago… "Yet it would be a mistake to exterminate our own children. We shall not fall so low again."

Zeus probably was thinking of fifty ways he was about to kill me and seeing them disappear with disappointment. He scrutinized me so closely I physically felt like blowing up again. Then he settled back in his throne with a sigh. I wondered if that meant he wasn't going to kill me.

"Sir…" I started and then waited. If he didn't strike me with the lightning bolt then I was going to continue. I swallowed and said, "I have a proposition I'd like to make – if you aren't going to kill me right now."

"How bold," Zeus said. "Just because we will heard what you have to say does not mean I have decided what to do with you." So I wasn't in the clear. _Damn I'm dead._ A demititan camp would probably push him over the edge.

"When I was at West Point, I met a demititan, still working for Kronos as he did not hear of your victory against him. He believes you and all the other gods don't deserve to rule… I would agree if I were him," I finished quickly and then braced myself for the impact.

None came. Zeus's fist was tightly closed around his lightning bolt but Poseidon had given him a warning glance like _Kill my daughter and you'll pay._ "Demititans have been ignored. I think there should be camp like Camp Half-Blood for them to train and prove to them the gods do pay attention to them."

Zeus interrupted me. "We are talking about the children of our enemies."

"Yes, we are, but you can't judge demititans just because their parents were evil. Sure, parents _usually_ play a huge role in their lives, but demititans were also left alone since they were young. In many cases, children turned out to be extremely different from their fathers. Like me and my dad." Poseidon frowned for the first time. "My stepdad," I clarified, "Who's cheating on my mom. I called him my dad because he's the one I grew up with," I added although it was unrelated. "Anyway, like Chiron and Kronos – you and Kronos. You shouldn't punish children because of their parents." Referring to demititans. "And you shouldn't punish children for their parent's mistake." Referring to… me. I didn't look at Poseidon's eyes.

"He still cheated –"

"Zeus –"

"Stop it!" I yelled. Gods, _I _was close-minded? Talk about the gods. They looked at me, shocked. Zeus raised his fist. So I took a deep breath and talked as fast as I could. "You have to stop bickering! You're brothers, and brothers don't punish each other by killing off their children. There's something called forgiving, and families forgive each other no matter how big the mistake was –" I choked on my own words. "Or how close you are… or how much you hate them. Sometimes you have to look past their mistakes and forgive." I didn't know where the speech came from. And I didn't know why I still was in one piece.

"She has a point," Poseidon murmured with a very pointed look at Zeus, who was furious but also looking at me with a bit of curiosity.

"Normally I'd kill you, but you might potentially be useful in the future," he said. "But one more crossing of the line and I wouldn't hesitate to strike you down with this bolt." And I believed it. So I hastily bowed and was about to leave but Zeus wasn't done. "As for your idea about the demititans… Come to the winter solstice. We shall decide then."

I deflated, just a bit, because I'd have to remain good for half the year and wait that long before my idea would come through. But I bowed again and said, "Yes, Lord Zeus." I addressed him with something higher than 'Sir'. He better be happy about that. Then I turned around and walked out of the palace, happy to be alive, but disappointed about my first encounter with my father. I swallowed it down.

"Elena –"

"Lena," I corrected automatically and found myself face to face with the god of seas, shrunken down to normal size. Zeus was gone.

He smiled. "Lena." Awkward silence. So not a father daughter moment. Finally he said, "You have done well."

"How would you know? You made no contact with me," I replied, hoping to sting him.

"I _have_ been watching you." Poseidon said. "I –"

"You aren't allowed to show favouritism. I know. But you know you could've introduced yourself! You could've shown you cared, at least once. A card, a – an Iris message, or just one visit… I felt abandoned before you claimed me, and thought it would be better once you did. But I was wrong. I just know your name, I don't know who you actually are."

He didn't reply.

"Goodbye, sir," I said and left the courtyard.

Well I got what I wanted. I talked to Poseidon. But I made things worse, by complaining. Why couldn't I just have shut up and basked in his praise?

_It's still true_.

Someone grabbed my arm. I shook it off angrily but it was just Thalia. She held her hands up. "What have I ever done to get on your bad side?"

"Nothing," I said. "Why aren't you with the hunters?"

"I pretended I'd dropped something," she said. "So, how did it go?"

"Not bad. I'm alive, aren't I? Now tell me why you're actually here. You know you left Nico di Angelo heartbroken for days."

She shook her boots to get rid of the snow piling on top of them. "I know. It's about Nico. I didn't become a hunter to reject all boys. That's a complication I wish didn't exist. I became a hunter to avoid the prophecy because if I took it, then I'd screw every demigod and god."

"Yuh-huh."

"Can you tell him… he's a great guy? I know he's over me… but I just need him to know." Well that would mess up his mind for days. But Thalia was asking for help, something I figured she never did. She was an independent person. _I can't tell him._

"Sure," I said. "I'll tell him. But you've got to let him go, Thalia."

"I will! Sometime." She grinned. "Don't worry about that. Being lieutenant kicks ass after all. I wouldn't give that up for anything. Hey, you want to walk with me to the elevator? I have no more business here… and I don't think you do either."

So we did. I left, clinging on to the fact I was alive, and leaving behind any hope I would ever get to know my dad.

**Two chapters left... D: you know what to do!**

**Until next time! ~^^~**


	21. I Literally Break a Leg

**And here's the second last chapter. Whoo, can't believe I had the time to complete this... school's been pretty crazy with learning latin and everything. (unus! duo! tres! quattuor! quinque! er...) I'm thinking of a sequel... thoughts?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. If I did, percy and annabeth would've realized their feelings a LOOOONNGGG time ago.**

**Read and Review!**

**I Literally Break a Leg**

When I got back to Camp Half-Blood, Percy and Nico were waiting by the Christmas tree. I got out of the van and ran up the hill to give Percy a giant hug.

"You're alive," Percy said, slightly out of breath from my hug.

"Damn," Nico muttered sarcastically. "Wait. What?"

"Zeus wanted to kill me… guess he changed his mind," I shrugged. "Apparently I could be useful in the future, which I _don't_ like the sound of."

"Zeus wanted to kill you?" Nico demanded. "No wonder you've been acting so moody lately."

"I'm always moody. Now what's for lunch?"

~0~

Fireworks blossomed above me. I chose special spot in the trees, not wanting to go down to the actual beach to watch them. I relaxed against the crooked nook of a branch and watched the twelve tasks of Hercules play. Percy and Annabeth were somewhere below me, probably kissing shyly, as were the other many couples on the beach. The fireworks show was the most romantic event of Camp Half-Blood, and I was happily single.

Well, maybe not _happily_.

"Enjoying the view?" someone asked on the branch below me. I looked down. It was some guy from the Hephaestus cabin. He had curly hair, some colour between red and brown. He wasn't totally muscular like his siblings, but he was getting there.

"It's great," I answered. "Come on up. It's a better view here."

"Enough space?"

"Plenty." I swung my legs down to make room for him as he climbed up. "You guys put on a fantastic show this year. Is every year like this?"

He grinned. "Each year's different. I'd like to think this one's better 'cause I helped, but that would be deceiving myself."

I turned to face him. "Haha. What's your name?"

He gave me his hand to shake. "Brenton. Son of Hephaestus."

I took it and then pulled away. "Lena, daughter-that-pissed-off-her-daddy." We watched the Nemean Lion get slayed.

"Didn't you go to Olympus or something? Like you just returned today, right?" he asked. "Aren't you that kid from Cabin Three?"

I gave out a long sigh. "Yeah – two both questions."

"Don't worry about getting your dad mad. If he really wanted to teach you a lesson, you'd be dead right now," he said matter-of-factly.

I studied him. "You're right. Or maybe he's saving up a special torture routine just for me," I said dryly.

Brenton laughed.

"Have I bored you enough yet? Or made enough sarcastic comments to drive you away?" I didn't know if he could tell, but I was watching the side of the face, temporarily cast into light from the blue fireworks above.

"You don't seem like such a bad person, if that's what you mean."

"Then you don't know me enough."

The fireworks kept playing. Somewhere along the way, our fingers interlocked.

~0~

Percy didn't ask me about how it went with the gods because he probably got the feeling I didn't want to talk about it. But I did want to, to talk to him about how I pissed off our dad. It was best if I didn't though, he was close to his dad. Or as close as a demigod could get to a god.

The next morning, we duelled in the swordfighting arena. I'd improved a lot compared to several weeks ago but I was still far from Percy's level. Maybe the fact that he was invincible had something to do with the fact I could never defeat him. Or maybe I just sucked.

But not as bad as javelin throwing. Clarisse had taken the initiative of wearing full body armour around me whenever I had a javelin in my hand. I guess a few injuries to her fellow campers convinced her of that. I once hit the target and was doing a victory dance until I learned I'd thrown the stick backwards.

Archery… I ruled out ever becoming a Hunter of Artemis even if she decided to invite me, which was unlikely after my finger slipped off the string of a loaded bow and it ended up shooting the cap off someone's head. Impressive, if I wasn't aiming for the opposite direction.

The first Capture the Flag game after I came back from Olympus, Annabeth finally decided to 'promote' me to the attack team, but warned that I had to stick to the plan and not pull anything on her. I'd fidgeted at that part but we still ended up winning thanks to Atalanta, who had mad tree-climbing skills. We celebrated over the campfire that night and just for a short while, major and minor demigods alike got along.

It was camp again, camp before I stole the scarf. Before my apparent death sentence. I enjoyed every last second of it: the campfires, the food, the activities, the victories. Especially the look on Cabin Five's face after they realized their cabin had been redecorated while they were out. Thanks to another extravagant prank pulled by your one and only Stoll brothers, they had pink ribbons tied to curtains and teddy bears on beds. The smell of roses lingered in Cabin Five long after they unsuccessfully tried to find the source. When I asked Travis and Connor why they pulled the prank, they said something about clients. Cabin Three was never pranked. Probably because I helped them, and also because they were afraid of our powers. So I slept safely, knowing I wouldn't wake up with frosting on my face the next morning.

July ended, much to my horror. I had been sure I was going to spend the entire year at camp, but I seriously didn't know if I was going to. I mean, I _had_ lectured the gods about forgiving your family and everything. What kind of impression would I set on them if I didn't follow that myself? So I told myself I had plenty of time to make a decision. Plenty. Of. Time.

Right?

~0~

I found Nico one day doing what I usually saw in movies – talking to the dead. I'd just come from arts and crafts after giving up in frustration in making a model of the Parthenon. So I took a walk in the forest to vent out my anger, instead of going to the sea side.

Somehow, I ended up at the tree with the X. I put one hand on the branch above me and pulled myself up. Then I kept going until I was high enough to see the clearing below me. I balanced myself carefully on the branch, holding onto the next branch above my head for support.

That was when I saw Nico below and the glowing ghost in front of him, who looked like him so much it could only be Bianca di Angelo. She had this unearthly blue light around her and had a quiver of arrows behind her. _She was a Hunter?_

I felt like I was intruding something so I got up on the branch. It snapped under my weight and then I was holding onto the branch with only one hand. My fingers strained to keep myself up, but they slipped one by one and I fell with a yelp, landing on each branch on my butt until I fell forward onto the ground. I tried landing on my feet but it buckled under me from the force.

A few seconds later, a shadow passed over me, blocking the filtered sunlight from above. I raised my chin weakly. "Sorry," I said and spat out a leaf. My leg buzzed in that sort of painful way.

Nico helped me up after putting away his sword. "Thought it was someone else. Hurt?" he asked, keeping a tight grip on my shoulder just in case I fell.

I knew there was something wrong with my left leg. Even when I wasn't standing and putting my weight on it, I could feel it throbbing with pain. I nodded. "My leg." I put it down experimentally and the pain sharpened. "Crap," I hissed.

Nico looked behind him and helped me over to the tree. "Lean on this. I'll be right back." He disappeared into the clearing. A moment later, he was back, stuffing his sword back into his sheath. "Your leg?"

"Yeah."

"Big House." He supported me and we slowly walked towards the farmhouse.

"Was that Bianca?" I asked. "Your sister… who died? She was a hunter?"

"Yeah. That was Bianca. You know, I used to think she was kind of annoying and protective but after she left with the rest of the Hunters… I was hurt. And probably got protective of her. Now I talk to her ghost every now and then." We carefully avoided a broken branch on the ground. "It's weird, because now I'm older than her but I still think of her as my big sister."

So I was finally alone in the forest, with enough privacy to tell Nico what Thalia said. I should've told him, but I didn't, like I decided that day on Olympus.

At the Big House, Will, Cabin Seven's counsellor, took a look at my leg and said it was partially fractured. "We can give you ambrosia and nectar, but we can't give you enough so it can heal – you'll face the possibility of burning up."

I winced and tried not to notice how much my leg had swollen, just below my knee. "Um, can you do anything else to help it heal faster? I can't miss the last two weeks of camp – if I wasn't staying," I quickly added. "I have to train."

He looked down at my leg. "I can sing you a healing song. Maybe as the daughter of Poseidon, seawater will help. The ocean's right there –"

"No," I said. "Forget everything; just give me the ambrosia and nectar. I'll let it heal on its own." Nico made some noise beside me but I ignored it.

Will gave me a cup of the sweet nectar. I drank it down slowly and then watched him as he took out a bunch of bandages. "I'm going to have to help the other guy next to you." The boy was moaning on his bed and clutching his stomach. I wondered what he ate for lunch. "Cailey!" he shouted. "Can you help this girl?"

She appeared, looking slightly tired and crumpled the paper cup in her hand. "No problem." Then she walked over and stared down at my broken leg. "Here we are again."

"Yep," I confirmed. "You look tired. Are you sure you can handle this?"

She replied by putting her hands on my leg. "Just a bad dream. I'm going to have to reset this… Just the broken part. Is there anything you can bite on?"

I took a Popsicle stick from a jar next to me and stuck it in my mouth, biting down on it until I felt wooden splinters digging into my lips. "Ready," I mumbled.

She set the bone. I broke the Popsicle stick in half.

After five minutes, I was calm enough for her to wrap the bandages around me. "You know, for your dreams, you could get some kid in the Morpheus cabin to look into that – ow!"

She stopped tugging so hard. "Sorry. And I don't need anyone to help me with my dreams. I'm fine. It's just a little sleep deprivation."

Nico studied her, but didn't say anything.

"I'll just ease this in… there." Cailey stepped back to view her work. "You don't want to be putting any weight on that any time soon. Wait here." She went into the storage room and came out with a set of crutches. "Use these."

I took them reluctantly, wondering if I should stop being stubborn and use the sea powers to help me. But I leaned on them anyway and stood up. "Thanks. You should get some rest now."

Her expression darkened and she shook her head. "He's always waiting there… I'll see you around."

~0~

Because I was excluded from many of the camp activities that required full use of your legs, I found myself in Cabin Three a lot. At first, I coped by trying to read out of the boring architecture book Annabeth gave me, but after I finished it, I left it alone for it to accumulate dust, having no wishes to read through it again. ADHD required for me to move around a lot, so after that, I took a few short walks with my crutches. But after I tripped over some Gucci shoe near Cabin Ten, I got a strict lecturing from Cabin Seven healers and stayed indoors after that.

A week before camp ended for those here only for summer, I looked out at the window, seeing the sunlight stream in and sighed. I twirled the pen around with my fingers several times. It shot out of my hands and landed on a sheet of paper. I leaned over to grab the pen and noticed it was the sheet of paper I tried writing a letter to my mom on. I turned around with the pen and tried to ignore it.

But flipping pens got boring, so I figured. _What the heck_. I grabbed the sheet of paper and found something hard to write on. _I'm not going to send it. It's just a letter I _would_ send…_

Two hours, three broken pens, and countless misspelled words later, I had a sheet of paper covered with words. Front and back. I tried reading it from the start because I wasn't exactly sure what I'd put down. My dyslexia kicked in and the letters jumbled together.

"Whatcha doing?" Percy asked as he walked into the cabin. "Needa grab some sunscreen."

I stuffed the letter into a drawer. "Nothing," I said but he was already out the door.

~0~

I had no more visitors until that afternoon, when Hermes showed up at my door. The god was in his classic mailman suit. I took his appearance with a slightly less enthusiastic response than I probably should have. "I thought the gods… decided not to kill me." _Why are you here?_

Hermes shrugged. "I figured you have a letter to send. Think of it as a favour."

"I don't have a letter," I lied but my hand betrayed me by moving towards the drawer.

"Come on kid. It's express service. Usually expensive," he reasoned.

I passed the note over to him with some reluctance, and just because he was growing impatient and you never wanted to make a god angry. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because family's important." He looked sad for a brief moment and I wondered if he was thinking about Luke Castellan. Then Hermes put it into his bag. "Well, see you kid," he said, with a completely different tone. "And you owe me one."

"You don't want a stamp?" I asked.

"Keep it in your stamp book collection or something." He winked and then left – not through the bizarre fry-you-into-a-crisp-if-you-looked way, but through the door.

Brenton came in five seconds later. I hadn't seen him much since the Fourth of July fireworks besides when he was forging metal or practicing swordfighting. I balanced on my crutches. "Hey."

"How are you?" he asked sarcastically, knowing exactly how I was doing.

I waved towards the cast on my leg. "Tough times these days," I answered with a slight smirk. "Clumsy me fell down a tree."

"Rhymes," he noted lamely and we didn't say anything for a few moments, when I pretended to busy myself with examining my nails with such detail you'd have thought I belonged in Cabin Ten, and him staring at his untied shoelaces.

"So what brings you here?" I asked. "I haven't really seen you around…"

"Heard you got hurt."

"Yeah. More than a week ago," I said. "But whatever," I added so he wouldn't be uncomfortable. "I'm fine. Just resting up and dying of boredom."

"You're missing the world out there," he said, gesturing to outside the cabin. "How about I take you for a walk? We're doing well on the orders for more swords and I've got a bit of free time."

Even though I'd tripped over a Gucci shoe and got told _exactly_ not to do that, I nodded. "Sure." Because I never followed what I was told to do anyway.

~0~

Percy packed up the night before he was leaving. He cursed throughout the cabin, flying around, trying to find that watch he had on two days ago but then lost or that pair of sunglasses that had mysteriously disappeared after the Stoll brothers did cabin inspection. I watched all this with amusement, on the bed as he stumbled over a backpack. "Can't wait to see your mom?" I asked.

"Can't wait to be home too. You'll be staying for the year, right?" He stopped fumbling with some weird contraption in his hands to look at me.

I leaned forward on the crutches even though I was sitting down. "I will."

"You can take the same bus as me if you change your mind."

"I won't."

To this, he didn't say anything else though his brain was probably thinking things through. Five minutes later, he was sitting on his suitcase, trying to get everything inside to fit inside the poor bag. He pulled on the zipper, tugging it uselessly.

"Want me to help?" I asked pathetically. If I tried manoeuvring around the cabin with this mess, I'd surely break my bone again and the other leg too.

"Naw, it's okay."

I mentally ran through a list in my mind on who would be staying. Nico. Because he gave up on school or something though Chiron would probably force him to do a little studying anyway. A few kids in Athena's cabin. Ares's too. Cailey was going back to Buffalo after a year of not seeing her family. Atalanta was going along with her because she couldn't even remember her family. Brenton was going back to his town in Ohio. I couldn't really remember the name of the town – it was long, complicated and hard to say. Rachel Elizabeth Dare would be attending Clairon's Lady Academy or something like that. It sounded like a painful place to be to me. Percy and Annabeth were going back to their homes.

I wondered if I really wanted a bunch of braniacs and war loving punks for company for ten months.

So I just watched silently.

~0~

The next morning, I found two sheets on my bedside. I picked them up slowly and read the first one through.

_Dear ___Elisa Eddington___,_

_If you intend to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, you must inform the Big House by noon today. If you do not announce your intentions, we will assume you have vacated your cabins or died a horrible death. Cleaning harpies will begin work at sundown. They will be authorized to eat any unauthorized campers. All personal articles left behind will be incinerated in the lava pit._

_Have a nice day!_

_Mr. D (Dionysus)_

_Camp Director, Olympian Council #12_

Because there was no one else in the room with the initials E.E, I assumed Elisa Eddington was Elena Evans with more than a few letters switched around, taken out, and added in. I prepared myself for a trip to the Big House when I remembered the second letter.

So I carefully unfolded it to see my mother's handwriting.

By now, I'd received enough letters you would've thought this didn't make me catch my breath like before. But it did. And I read it through, slowly, and had to pause several times to stop the letters switching around.

_Please come back home_.

Should I?

I slowly set my crutches against the wall and stared at my belongings. I would need a suitcase. "Percy, where do you buy bus tickets? Percy?" He didn't move under the blanket. So I impatiently set the alarm and let it ring loudly by his ear. "Are you awake now?" I shouted.

"Let me sleep," he mumbled.

"Blackjack ate all the sugar cubes again and he's getting real drunk up in the sky. You know what they say? Don't get high and fly?"

This woke him up a bit more. "What?"

"Forget it. I need bus tickets to Manhattan and I don't know where to find them."

He peeked out from underneath his blanket. "Don't get any." Then he took out three tickets from the drawer. "One for Annabeth, one for me, and one for you." He sat up in bed, yawning.

I stared at the tickets.

"I figured you'd need one. Well, actually, Annabeth did," he said sheepishly. "Are you going to take it or not?"

~0~

The Greyhound bus was just by the road, waiting for us to hope on. The driver must've wondered why in Hades a bunch of kids of all different sizes and ages were boarding a bus to Manhattan from a strawberry farm, but his main priority was probably getting paid.

"I can take your backpack," Percy said to me for the fiftieth time. And he'd only started five minutes ago. Record for trying to be helpful, I guess.

I nudged the backpack with my shoulder to indicate I was fine. "Don't worry about it. I've got this." The crutches were digging into my armpits, but I was just focusing on one thing: I was going home… even though every part of me screamed I was doing the wrong thing.

Cailey looked even worse than before. Her hair looked like she'd brushed it once and then none more. She was talking to Atalanta though sometimes she didn't respond until the little girl pinched her hand. Which was painful – I'd experienced it, and after that, I swore to myself I'd introduce her to nail cutters.

I shook her shoulder. "You look like life's been giving you hell lately."

"Funny you should say that. I just can't sleep at night."

I took Atalanta's hand and pointed Percy out to her. "Talk to that boy, and ask him to show you his sword." She plodded off, and I half wished I could watch her torture Percy and bombard him with questions. But I readjusted my crutches so I was facing Cailey again. "What exactly have you been dreaming of about Alec?"

She looked like the last thing she wanted was to talk about him. But what she wanted and what she needed was different. "I don't know. I can't stop thinking I abandoned him…"

I wanted to shake her out of it. "Stop thinking of him, okay? You've chosen what you wanted to do with your life, and he has chosen his. Sure, he'll always be special, but the part of your life where he was part of it – it's over. You have a little sister to take care of."

She seemed to wake up for the first time in ages. "He would've let me go. If I didn't just leave. If I asked…"

"Cailey, you can't change you already did."

She shrunk even more. "I know. I know."

No more inspirational words came to me. I opened my mouth, to comfort her, or something, but instead, I just said, "How about we rescue Percy from Atalanta?" Cailey was probably far from healed but it was a start. She called Atalanta over. Atalanta gave her a flower she'd picked off from the ground.

"For you," she said. "Because you're my big sis."

Cailey took the flower gently. "Thank you," she said, and for that moment, she was not mulling over the past. She was firmly in the present. "I am your big sis."

On the bus, I picked the window seat, somewhere between the middle and the back. Percy and Annabeth were sitting together, Atalanta and Cailey were talking, and Rachel was chatting with the bus driver. I prepared myself for a boring trip and wondered if Percy would lend me his Ipod.

"Sitting alone?"

I raised my head and then moved my crutches from the seat beside me. "You can have it, if you want," I offered.

Brenton sat down. "I'm transferring onto another bus to Ohio once we're in Manhattan. So I guess you're stuck with me."

"Gladly," I said wryly, but secretly, I was. _This bus ride won't be as boring as I thought…_

**Now I'm going to take a break and watch Friends because it's just that awesome. so as i said, i'll probably be writing a sequel. I've enjoyed writing fanfiction. please review! I will love you if you do...**

**Until next time! ~^^~**


	22. Secret Life of a Juvenile Delinquent

**Awwww crap, this document didnt save... AGAIN! so I'll write this authors note. again. **

**Please review! This is the LAST chapter and you will not have a chance to review this story or tell me what you think again! I will appreciate it and thanks in advance!**

**So this is it. The last one. The short last one. Almost an epilogue. But anyway... I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians otherwise it never would've gotten published as I'd be too embarresed to submit it to publishers.**

**Ps, go check out 'The Forgeries' by pj-prophecy7, the story I'm beta-ing. It's a promising story, I promise you. **

**Secret Life of a Juvenile Delinquent**

I stood in my room, leaning forward on my crutches, which were probably ruining the new floor because it was digging into the ground to support the weight of me, and my backpack. The renovations were done – surprisingly quickly and when I got home five minutes ago, I walked, noting the brand new door and new window panes.

Now I was home.

The backpack was getting heavy, so I took it off and kicked it to the corner with my good leg. Then I sat on my bed and stared at the huge pile of books on my desk.

The pile of books comprised of mainly textbooks – but there were at least three classics there too. I think one of them was _Animal Farm_, which I would've read – or tried to read – if I hadn't skipped school last year. I didn't know what it was about. _A farm of animals, no duh. A pig that goes oink_. Put it in short, I wasn't particularly excited about it.

Because, as my mom explained to me as she drove me home from the terminal, to make up for my lack of studying, I'd have to go to some special private school _and_ take private tutoring lessons. Whoopie. Double the fun. But if you looked at it one way, it wasn't such a bad punishment considering how long I didn't go to school.

The bed I was sitting on was made. The desk was tidy. There were no stray pieces of clothing on the floor – they were hanging on hangers in my closet.

It just didn't feel like _my_ room. After living in a room where no one bothered cleaning up for several years – no, it wasn't disgusting, I wasn't one to leave pizza crusts under the bed – I'd gotten comfortable in messy.

The paper in my pocket crinkled several times before I remembered it was there. I took it out and unfolded it, then smoothed it against my leg. On it were numbers for almost every person I was close with. Of course they weren't cell phone numbers. Demigods only used them for emergencies. I rubbed my thumb over the last number again, which I'd memorized in the car, distracting myself from my mother's rant about how stupid I was to break my leg. _…9760_, I repeated to myself and then looked down to the paper. _…9760 – Brenton_.

Why did his name send flutters in my stomach?

"I'm going to pick up Jordan from violin lessons, okay sweetie?" I heard my dad say from below. His voice was carefully controlled to conceal any bits of sarcasm at the word 'sweetie'. He was trying. He really was. My parents were now taking marriage counselling, which was sad. But at least my dad wasn't cheating on her anymore.

Or at least that was all we knew.

"Can you pick up some more milk at the grocery store?"

"Sure thing." I imagined him giving my mother a quick hesitant peck on the cheek, as if he wasn't sure if she was going to lash out at him. Who could blame him? The atmosphere was extremely tense and the pleasantries were forced.

The front door closed.

Bored, I dragged the bag in front of me and opened it. Items spilled out. My dagger, the sword (which had somehow been stuffed in there without ripping through the material of the bag), clothes, sunscreen, a hat, and a thick bunch of photos. I flipped through them. Some kid at camp had brought a camera and snapped photos of everyone. Hephaestus's cabin at work; a kid from Cabin Seven shooting an arrow; several of Aphrodite's kids modelling outfits; a shot from the hill, by the pine tree, down at the cabins; Cailey and Atalanta's faces side by side; Travis and Connor with spray guns, which brought back a few hilarious memories; Nico throwing a bone for Mrs. O'Leary; Rachel with a blue paint streak on her forehead and a paintbrush in her hand; Annabeth and Percy laughing; and then finally, among pictures of strangers of familiar faces, I found myself.

It was taken just before Capture the Flag, as we were all suiting up. I was looking off to the side in a distracted sort of way, and holding a helmet in my hands. Brenton was a few feet away. He was almost all suited up but his helmet was beside his foot and his head was toward the camera, but he was looking to his right. I dated this picture to be maybe after I'd come back from my 'quest', but before I went to Olympus. Late June. He was holding something in his hands. I squinted at the photo but it was too small to make out so I tossed the pictures onto the desk, thinking about framing them later.

Downstairs, the doorbell rang. I grabbed my crutches and then hobbled out of the room just as my mother answered the door. She froze at the doorway, like in shock. Not as if she received bad news, just surprising news. I wondered who was at the doorway but I was too high to see. She talked quietly, and then raised her voice to say something like, "She can't go on a fishing trip, her leg's broken."

"Mom?" I asked.

She turned around to look at me. "Elena," she said, blinking.

"Who is it?"

The man stepped inside the house and turned his face to me.

It was my dad.

Not the dad that went out to pick up Jordan, but the dad I pissed off on top of the Empire State Building. He was wearing his fisherman's cap and holding a fishing rod. In his other hand, was a tackle box.

Why was he in my house?

Justin raced out of his bedroom and ran down the stairs, nearly knocking me over as he hollered, "Who's there? Who came?"

I answered because my mother was looking quite rigid. "Poseidon."

"You mean like the Greek myths? Why do you have such a weird name?" Justin asked. I wished Poseidon would blast him into pieces. It would do us all a favour. Besides Justin. "Do people make fun of you because of your name?"

Poseidon looked a little irked, and a little amused. He waved. I didn't. "I was just asking your mother if you'd like to come on a fishing trip with me."

I gaped. "Um… what?" I thought he'd come to like severely punish me for rejecting him as my father. "What are you doing?"

"Your father wants to get to know you," my mother said. "He hasn't been… a key figure in your life lately." A side glance to Poseidon.

"I've been sending child support checks!" he protested.

"Da – Poseidon, I don't think we'll ever be as close as you and Percy," I said. "And your status is preventing that. I don't think I can ever act like you're a normal dad who goes fishing every Sunday."

Poseidon chuckled in a tired sort of way. "You've been pushing people away for so long, you have to accept some someday. It's only for the afternoon, Elena."

"You think we can bond in one afternoon?" Yes, I wanted to know him, and I was probably rejecting the god one time too many, but…

"Elena," my mother said.

"Fine," I replied, because Poseidon was starting to look a little angry to me. "One afternoon. And then we'll see, okay?" I carefully went down the stairs and then looked boldly at my dad's face. "By the way, I'm going to be a burden." I indicated my crutches. "Just a warning."

He winked. "A trip to the sea might help."

A minute later, I followed Poseidon outside the door. At the curb of the street, I looked back at the house. My mother gave her tiny smile and waved her hand. I raised mine half-heartedly and looked down at the garden. I didn't know why. But when I saw that blue little row of flowers sitting at the front, I suddenly knew what Brenton had wanted to give me that day in June.

"We'll be using the old-fashioned method of transportation," Poseidon said. He still hadn't told me where we were going yet. I awkwardly hobbled beside him.

"The subway?" I asked. I couldn't imagine riding in a subway car with the god of the seas right beside me, with a fisherman's hat and fishing rod. The image I could conjure up looked absurd to me, and probably did to him too because a moment later, I laughed at the same time he did. I stopped abruptly and looked up at his eyes, which crinkled as he smiled.

I grinned shyly back.

It was only two in the afternoon, but a lot of things had already happened. I'd woken up, thinking that by now I'd be at archery practice or something. Then I changed my mind. I went home. And now, I was walking with my father, an Olympian, down your average street in Brooklyn. We were finally getting to know each other after thirteen years.

Strange.

But then again, that was just my life. The secret life of a juvenile delinquent.

**Cut! How was that for a first fanfic? Once again, I must ask you to kindly review... Was the ending suitable? Was the story in general good?**

**Finally, acknowledgements: Thank you to: Everyone who is reading this! You have remained loyal/bored enough to read this, and it obviously deserves some recognition. Everyone who reviewed! I definitely learned a lot from this writing experience, which will be the reason why I'll be back to post more fanfics... though it'll take me a while once I finish that stupid latin homework. You've brightened my day by taking the few extra seconds to tell me what you think. Everyone who favourited, or story alerted my story! It made me feel as if I was actually writing something worthwhile, and something that people liked or were intriqued by. And finally, to my friend 'Ruth', as we slogged through writing our different stories together. And Aitch, for introducing me to this site. And Jia2 for coming up with the '~^^~' face.**

**And that ends my last author's note. For the sequel: Until next time! ~^^~**


	23. Author's Note!

hey it's me again... anyway, i'm posting the first chapter of the next story like right after this! it's called 'Just Your Average Delinquent'. this author's note probably is like... pointless but i just wanted you guys to know. check it out when you have time. :D


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